Shun And Dan Best Friends Forever
by skyressshun
Summary: Awful at summaries but basically Dan and Shun fall out after Shun's mum dies and this is my way of them becoming friends again
1. intro

5 hours of training a day most people would consider a punishment but for me its life, well my life now. See my mum died about a month ago and I was sent to live with my grandfather. He used to be a famous ninja warrior and had been trying to convince my mum that she should continue the family tradition for 2 years now but my mum didn't want me to start training saying that ninjas didn't have a place in modern society. After she died my grandfather got custody of me because nobody knows where my father is. Apparently he walked out on my mum when she found out she was pregnant and even if I did know where he was I still wouldn't go and live with him after what he did to my mum, no thank you.

Living with my grandfather isn't so bad tho apart from the 5 hours of training it's pretty relaxed around here and since my mum died I haven't been to school. They say that I don't have to go back _till I'm ready_ if I had my way I would stay home forever but I don't have that luxury and I have to go back tomorrow which means I'm going to have to see my ex best friend Dan Kuso. I've known Dan my whole life literally and we've been best friends for as long as I can remember we only fell out 2 weeks ago when he said that I was being overdramatic and that I should man up since people die every day. But I don't really have the time to think about him right now since I have to get up at half 6 and its already 20 past 11.


	2. getting back to school

**This is the second chapter up and can anyone who reads please tell me about my grammer and spelling mistakes**

That dreaded beep of my alarm broke me from my sleep and dragged me back to reality. Today was my first day of school since mum passed and I was dreading it to say the least not only would I have to see Dan again but I would also have to deal with all the sympathetic eyes and heartfelt conversations from people I've never met. It was going to be hell for the next few days and the only person I would usual confide in I can't talk to any more because of what he said.

It felt so wrong when I was getting changed for school all the memories of my mum setting out my clothes and making me breakfast came flooding back and I had to force myself back into the present it was still far too painful to think about her.

When I got to the kitchen grandfather had made some bacon sandwiches and was asking about school. "What time are you going to be back I need to know when so I can get prepared for your training?" grandfather inquired setting a plate in front of me. "Quarter past 3 grandfather" I said taking a bite and wiping the crumbs from my face. "Quarter past 3 in my day you had to stay in school till-" grandfather had set of on one of his pointless rants again which meant I would have to pretend to care about what he was saying for probably 5 minutes at least that gives me enough time to think about what I'm going to do when I see Dan.

I was told to stand outside the classroom till the teacher told them I was back; those few minutes felt like hours the anticipation of walking out and seeing Dan seeing all my ex friends; Runo, Julie, Marucho and Alice. Every one of my friends apart from Dan were really supportive after my mum died and I was really frustrated when they said we couldn't be friends anymore it took a while for me to discover why they didn't want to be friends and when I found out it made me hate Dan even more. He told them I hit him for no reason, there was a reason, he said I was being overdramatic about my mums death, he doesn't know what it's like to have a member of your family die no one's died in his family not even a pet. "Calm down Shun being so stressed isn't good for you, you'll get wrinkles or worse grey hair, and with all your hair it's going to be very noticeable." A small green ball that looked just like a marble jumped onto my shoulder and opened up revealing my partner Skyress, Skyress is a bakugan witch is basically an alien from a different dimension she was given to me by my mum before she died because my mum wanted me to have someone who would always look out for me and protect me when she wasn't around anymore. "how is being stressed going to give me wrinkles, I understand that it can give you grey hair but wrinkles honestly who ever got wrinkles from being stressed?" I stared at Skyress with a smile on my face talking to her was like talking to mum, easy, you could talk to her for hours and not even realise it. "Your grandfather he had wrinkles in his 20s," Skyress joked "I've seen pictures of him he was like your double now look at him." "Did they even have cameras in those days?" I asked trying to stop myself from laughing. I heard a click and looked the teacher miss Birdie had come to tell me to come in "Shun it's time to start class come in and sit next to Dan again, I've told everyone not to mention your mother unless you want to discuss her." I gritted my teeth to stop myself from arguing with her and nodded my head knowing that if I said anything I would get detention, and detention on your first day back isn't ideal. So I just followed her into the room, Skyress jumped into my pocket because she knew that if she saw Dan she would end up yelling at him, she was extremely overprotective.

**Next chapter is going to be up in a few days so please review**


	3. first lesson, fight

**ok I know I said I'd wait a few days till I update but I had this idea and I wanted to put it on as soon as I wrote it**

When I entered the room everyone's eyes were on me, mine however were focused solely on Dan, I had to sit next to him last time I was here and I would have loved that now it feels as if I'm being punished for my mums death. "Shun please take your seat so we can start the lesson." Miss birdie gestured towards Dan and we groaned simultaneously. Instead of starting an argument I walked over to Dan dragged my seat out and away from him and slumped next to him Dan in return to my gesture shuffled his seat away from me. Everyone was now staring at us again because no one else knew we had fallen out as far as they knew we were still best friends. "What's up with them I thought they were best friends, but it looks like they hate each other?" Shuji asked turning his head to his brother Akira who sat opposite us; Shuji was a very cocky person who thought that he was better than everyone else when in reality he was a fat, whinny kid who cried when he didn't get his own way. "Why don't you shut up Shuji, us being friend's is a thing of the past I hate him now, he punched me in the face." Dan yelled pointing to the faint blue mark under his eye. There was a loud gasp in the room and everyone stared at Dan the looks on their faces suggested that they didn't know how he got a black eye. "Everyone be quiet you can discuss this later in break now it's time to start the lesson, our first lesson is maths now can anyone tell me what-"

When the bell for break rang everyone poured out leaving only me and Dan at our desk. "Why did you hit me I was only trying to help?" Dan asked staring at me I could tell by the tone of his voice that he honestly didn't understand what he did wrong. I stared at Dan took in a huge breath and prepared myself for a lot of explaining. "I hit you because you don't understand, no one in your families died, no one, you live in a happy home and my life is so messed up I don't have a dad I never meet another member of my family till a month ago, which is kind of weird seeing as tho his house is only a 15 minute drive away. You didn't seem to understand that it takes a long time for people to grieve you don't just get over a member of you family leaving you and never coming back, it was so frustrating when you said that I was depressing you that I should lighten up and forget about it but I put up with it for a bit because I knew you didn't understand what I was going through but when you said I was being overdramatic I couldn't stand it anymore. I've known you my entire life and I thought you would know me well enough to know that I don't over react, that's why I hit you." I could see by the way Dan expression changed that he finally understood what he had said was wrong. "Shun I'm really sorry, you know that right, I just really didn't think that saying you were overdramatic was wrong you know that I haven't had any experience in that area and I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from saying that but I can't and I'm really, really sorry. You were my best friend and I want us to be best friends again the past 2 weeks have been torture because I knew you were mad at me. Can you forgive me?" Dan held his hand out at me and obviously wanted me to shake it as a sign of good faith, but I wasn't ready to forgive him just yet I was pleased that he understood what he had said was wrong but you can't just forgive someone after that so I slapped his hand away and began to walk out, into the swarm of kids anxiously waiting for me, ready to find out what actually happened to my mum. I had heard from Dan when we were still friends that several rumours had surfaced about why my mum died and it was now up to me to set everyone straight. Before I left the room I turned to face Dan, he was staring blankly at his hand he looked like he was almost shocked that I had rejected his gesture. I was very tempted to go over to Dan and sit with him because I knew how upset he got when he felt rejected; I had to stay with him for 3 hours one night because this girl he had a crush on didn't want to date him. The only way I managed to walk away from Dan was by reminding myself that we were going to be friends again just not right now. "Are you ready for this my shun I know your still depressed about your mother and you don't have to tell these children what happened if you don't want to remember what your teacher said you don't have to talk about her if you're not ready." Skyress popped her head out of my pocket and moved to look up at me I nodded my head at her feeling positive that I could handle this. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the onslaught of questions but as soon as they began charging at me I quickly decided against my previous decision and with lightning fast speed disappeared into thin air. The kids were coming at me from all directions and once I had gone they were running to fast to stop and they all collided ending up in a huge pile on the floor. I had used my ninja skills to hide behind a corner and peeked around the wall just in time to see them pile up on the floor, I heard Skyress giggle not only at the sight of 30 kids stacked on top of each other but also because I had gone back on what I had said and hid from them. "What? Like you said I don't have to if I'm not ready." I smirked at her knowing she had no response. I continued watching them as they all looked at each other with confused expressions and mumbled something I couldn't quite hear what they were saying because of all the other people talking in the background but I was fairly certain that they were asking each other where I had gone. After about 20 seconds I walked off realising that they weren't going to figure out where I was any time soon.

When I got outside I scanned the area looking for a quiet place to sit seeing as I had just spent 2 hours listening to Dan whine to Shuji and Akira about how I had _beat him up._ I spotted an old tree in a quiet corner of the ground and walked over to it. When I reached it I sat crossed legged at the base and placed Skyress on a root near me. "I can't believe that stupid human! How were you ever friends with him my Shun?" Skyress asked I stared at her and had to restrain myself from laughing when she got so worked up that she fell of the root and into a clump of dirt. It was almost impossible when she resurfaced with her own small pile on her head; I can only imagine how embarrassed she must have been after all she was a very posh person. I could tell she was glaring at me as I dusted her off and helped her back onto the root. "You ok?" I asked with a small smile. Skyress softened and I knew she wasn't annoyed anymore because after mum died she was the only one I smiled around. "I'm fine my Shun my pride is the only thing that's hurt." She said shaking of the little specs of dirt I missed. I nodded my head at her and faced forwards, cupping my hands and closing my eyes trying to relax.

I wasn't relaxing for very long probably two minutes, till I was rudely interrupted. "Hey Shun, Shun are you listening to me? Hello." I half opened one of my eyes and saw two figures, a blue haired girl in a yellow short sleeved shirt and a small white skirt stood directly in front of me while a silver haired girl in a pink body warmer that showed her stomach and matching shorts stood behind her. "What do you want Runo?" I asked opening both my eyes so I could look her in the face. "Who the hell do you think you are punching Dan unprovoked? You think that just because you're rich you can do whatever you want!" Runo asked with her hands on her hips I could see she was barely stopping herself from yelling at me. "Do you want to know something Shun you're no better than everyone else." "Actually Runo he kinda is after all he is an amazing fighter got super human reflexes and is like stupidly fast like Olympic fast not to mention the fact that he has this huge fan club of like 200 girls that call themselves fan girls which I think is like so smart cos they like merge two words to-" "SHUT UP JULIE!" Runo finally snapped and screamed at Julie "I was only answering your question. God, temper." I could see that they were going to get into a huge fight and for the first time was actually happy that Julie was so ditzy it gave me the perfect chance to get away from them. I grabbed Skyress and walked straight past them they were so involved with their fight that they didn't notice. Once I got a fair distance away from them I turned and listened to see how far into their fight they were. They fought so much you could usually judge how long they were going to be "Do you even know why we're here? You idiot you never listen to me!" I doubt I was going to see them for the next hour they were still at the beginning of a very long argument.

**please review and tell me about grammar and spelling mistakes. ****Julie only says what she did because i wanted to make i sound like she was oblivious to why they were actually there. **


	4. pe

**please review I want to know what you like and don't like about my story**

The bell that signified the end of break rang and we all filed back into class. Miss birdie announced that the next lesson was PE and that we would be playing dodge ball. I was excited and anxious at the same time excited because I was really good at dodge ball and anxious because I would either be playing with Dan or against him. I glanced at Dan and saw he was chewing on his bottom lip he had obviously realised what was going to happen if we were on the same team we would easily win but if we were on opposite teams well we would be in for one big round. "everyone get changed we'll be heading down to the assembly hall in 10 minutes, if anyone doesn't feel comfortable getting changed in front of the class come with me." miss birdie told the class before she walked out with a line of 6 boys and girls behind her. I reached beneath my desk and pulled up my bag taking out my PE kit and started to get changed, I had to be careful when I took of my jacket in case Skyress fell out she was only small and all the people walking around to talk to their friends while getting changed could easily crush her.

We all stood in a single line against the wall in the assembly hall miss birdie looked down the line and asked "has anyone seen Runo or Julie?" I raised my hand and told her "I saw them by the old tree in the corner of the ground it looked as if they were fighting." Miss birdie nodded and continued "ok then, you will be split into 4 groups and playing for 5 minutes the girls will be playing first so will you all mind stepping forward so I can split you into 2 groups." The girls stepped forwards and miss birdie chose the two captains Alice and Chan lee.

Alice's team won which was very surprising since she was awful at sports she was more brain than brawn if you know what I mean she was the girl you'd find studying not cheerleading. "Ok everyone be quiet, it's time for the boys will you all step forwards please." The hall was instantly silent no one wanted to get on miss birdies bad side if she liked you she was the nicest person in the world if she didn't well you were basically in hell for 6 hours every day. "Let's choose our captains shall we, I think it will be very interesting if we have Shun and Dan as our captains. Anybody disagree say so now?" nobody spoke "ok then, Shun, Dan step forwards please and choose your teammates."

We were half way through the game we had both got most of the other teams players out the only people who were left were Klaus, Ace and Ren on Dan's side and Barron, Komba and Billie on mine. Klaus had one of the balls and threw it at Komba as fast as he could "master Shun help" Komba cried bringing his arms up to shield his face "Komba focus and catch it" I yelled back at him, Komba complied and caught the ball, I was amazed since he had his eyes closed. "Klaus you're out" miss birdie called out and Klaus marched off the _court_ in a strop. I nodded my head at Komba and he beamed with pride. Komba threw the ball at Ace and he dogged it easily Ren went to get it and passed it to Dan. Dan glanced at us and I could see he was eliminating us 1 by 1 to see who he was going to get out, his eyes fixed on Billie and he ran forwards and released the ball Billie didn't even have time to blink before he was hit in the stomach and knocked off balance he was almost knocked on his back but Barron managed to catch him. He just walked straight off he didn't even have to be told by miss birdie he knew he was out. Barron passed me the ball that was bouncing across the floor "hear Shun you have a go" I held the ball securely in my hands I knew who I wanted to get out but if he was out it wouldn't be any fun, I decided to get Ren out he was so arrogant I would love to see that smug smirk constantly plastered on his face wiped clean off "heads up Ren" I threw the ball so hard and fast that Ren didn't even have the time to look shocked "show off" Barron mumbled smiling. The ball rolled around the floor and stopped in front of Ace "time to even the playing field" he said throwing the ball up and down in his hands like a bakugan "say goodnight Barron" "help" was all Barron could say before he was hit in the middle of his chest, winding him. "Master Shun where are the other balls, if we had them we could easily win." Komba stared at me looking slightly worried "we don't need them Komba just get me the ball ok" honestly we probably did need them but I had no idea where they were, I just had to try and sound confident. Komba skipped over to the ball which lay by Barron who was gasping on the floor "you ok Barron?" Barron shuck his head signalling that he wasn't "ok" Komba smiled at him and ran back to me handing me the ball "skipping seriously?" I stared at him in disbelief, a 10 year old boy skipping really. "What? It's fun" I held out my hand "just give me the ball" Komba passed me the ball and hung his head pretending to be sad. I locked my eyes on Ace he had been playing too long it was time for him to take a break. I aimed very carefully Ace was known for being quick not as quick as me but still quick. Once I was certain he wouldn't be able to dodge I threw the ball Ace tried very hard to dodge but I still managed to clip him. "Ace off, he got you." Miss birdie pointed to the side of the hall, Ace gave a loud groan as he made his way to the side and slumped down next to Klaus. "Yay master Shun you're amazing" Komba cheered he was so busy celebrating that he didn't notice Dan pick up the ball and chuck it at him. Dan wasn't so horrid that he would knock Komba over when he wasn't looking so he only threw it hard enough to hit Komba not hurt him. All Komba did was stare at his arm where the ball hit it, he looked confused almost shocked that he was out. He turned and walked off sitting on the floor. "It's just you and me left Shun" Dan yelled over to me "I guess it is" I picked up the ball and threw it at Dan, he jumped out of the way "oh so close" Dan taunted getting the ball to throw at me, I just stared intently at my him trying to figure out how to get him out whether or not I should catch the ball or hit him, it was a very hard decision but I think I should hit him it would be a lot more fun and this way he wouldn't be able to say that it was just luck, he probably would but say that but what Komba did was luck hitting him would be skill. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I nearly got hit; luckily I managed to dodge it by turning so I was facing the wall. "Oh come on I was so close" Dan cried stamping his feet in frustration "you're awful quick to lose your temper." I noted while going to grab the ball; I knew that if I got him mad enough he would get careless and it would be that much easier to get him out. It worked as well, I could see that he was very agitated because he was yelling at his shoulder, I can only guess that he had his partner bakugan with him and that he was having a go at him for saying something he didn't like, he may not look like it but he was a very sensitive person always taking things to heart. Once I had the ball I aimed very carefully because I knew that even though he would be easier to hit it would still be difficult "win this my Shun" Skyress jumped on my shoulder to support me "that's what I intend to do" I told her before throwing the ball as fast as humanly possible hitting him square in the face. Miss birdie played dodge ball differently to other teachers, meaning that no matter where you were hit you were out. All of my team cheered triumphantly "looks like I win" I stated staring at Dan who had a big pink mark on his face "wasn't that a bit harsh" Skyress asked giggling slightly "you tell me you're the one whose laughing" I retorted "that's not the point" Skyress answered trying to compose herself.

The rest of the day was mediocre Dan was trying to convince everyone that he let me win saying he did it to try and make amends, but everyone knew he was lying you don't have that look on your face if you did it on purpose and by look I mean the look of pure fear. "Why don't you look on the bright side" Shuji whispered across the table to Dan who was in a mood he had just realised that everyone knew he was lying about losing on purpose "what bright side" he asked "at least the marks faded." Shuji answered trying to sound positive. Dan stared coldly at Shuji making him back off and sit up straight in his chair. "Whoevers talking shut up and pay attention." Miss birdie practically shouted to the class. We were in the middle of English and needless to say it was boring. The hour seemed to drag on and I was counting down the minutes it felt like an eternity before the bell rang. When it finally did ring I was one of the first to pile out.

**again please review**


	5. Dans side

Dan's POV

Today has been the worst day of school ever. I had to sit next to Shun again which I was so happy about because I still classed him as my best friend even tho he did hit me but I didn't want to hold it against him after all his mum had just died and he was grieving. When he came in the room I tried my best to not look bothered but inside I was so giddy, my best friend back at school, when he pulled his chair away from me I honestly thought I was going scream at him but instead I decided to be mature take the high road and do the same. That was only the start we had PE later and I thought that if I lost he might forgive me but I highly doubted that since he did reject my offer earlier that day. I wasn't that bothered about that tho I mean what kind of friends don't fight granted most make up fairly quickly but still… oh who am I kidding he beat me fair and square and crushed me when he didn't accept my apology. "Drago I need some help, advice whatever you want to call it I need it" I whined to my partner who was sitting on my bed beside me. I hoped he would give me advice since he was my partner but me and Drago had only been partners for a few weeks and I obviously didn't know him as well as I thought because all he did was laugh at how pathetic I looked roll up into a ball and stated that he wasn't getting involved with my messed up version of a life and that I should sort my own problems out. I folded my arms across my chest and puffed my cheeks out to show I was annoyed. "At least I can change my expression you look constantly surprised" I muttered to myself hoping he wouldn't hear but obviously he did cos he had to hear what he shouldn't "At least I have friends that don't hit me" he countered. That was brutal. "Why do I even bother" I asked myself picking Drago up and starting my computer, if I couldn't get sympathy from him I could try and get some from my friends on the bakuroom, the bakuroom was a chat room that was created by this guy Joe he made it so that every kid who loved to play bakugan could log on and share their battles with their friends around the world it was also a place where you could check your ranking. Obviously I didn't get the sympathy I wanted because as soon as I logged on I had Runo's face cover my screen and her screaming at me "finally do you realise how long we've been waiting" "waiting for what?" I asked feeling very confused "you, you idiot" "ok, what did I do" I questioned her trying to figure out what I did wrong there's always some reason she's mad at me. "You lost!" "Oh that again" I sighed slumping in my chair, obviously Runo couldn't let me forget my humiliation, wait a second how'd she even know about that she was in a fight with Julie. "How do you know about me losing to Shun?" "Your so naïve Dan, you completely forgot that Marucho was there and he's the biggest gossip in the world didn't you." I mentally slapped myself how could I forget. "Anyway what were you and Julie fighting about" I asked trying to stop an awful conversation before it started. I'd had enough reminders of that torturous' hour today. Runo's screen zoomed out back into the top left hand corner of my screen "why don't you ask little miss know it all who remembers everything about anything." Julie sneered who was in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. "Know it all, just because I can remember where I slept last night" oh god not again I glanced at Marucho who's screen was next to Runo's he nodded at me and we simultaneously logged out. "I miss Shun, if we were still friends we'd be bitching about that lot right now." I told Drago leaning back against my chair putting my arms behind my head so I'd have something to lean it against. "How did you 2 meet?" he asked me. I smiled thinking back to that day…

Flash back

_My mum was holding me in her arms trying to get me to sleep. It was a spring morning and we were in the park mum was nearly tearing her hair out, she had been trying and failing to put me to sleep for nearly an hour. She was about to give up when a raven haired girl dressed in a black shirt and matching wavy skirt holding a small boy with similar hair walked up to her "need any help? " she stared at my mum with slightly concerned eyes the small boy in her arms rolled his head over in the direction of my mum and revealed that the boy was sleeping. My mum saw how peaceful the boy looked and stared at me crying and thrashing out in her arms "would you mind I've been trying for nearly an hour, he's impossible I've tried everything." "Not at all, after all I did offer." She told her holding her arms out to trade babies "I know a little trick that makes them just drop off" the strange lady smiled snapping her fingers before she took me in her surprisingly soft arms. My mum was holding the raven haired boy in her arms and he snuggled in closer. I stared at this insane woman as she started to hum a surprisingly relaxing tune I tried to fight it but the tune made my eyes feel like they had lead weights on them and before I knew it I was in a world of bunnies and rainbows._

End flash back

"It's insane how we meet, it really is, we were 3 months old my mum was in the park and she couldn't get me to sleep and Shuns mum came over to her and put me to sleep like that." I laughed, I looked at Drago and the way he stared at me without moving told me that he thought I was crazy but he didn't know he wasn't there. "Look I don't expect you to understand after all you weren't their but trust me it was really funny." "How do you remember how you two meet you were 3 months old" Drago inquired "I don't know, why don't you just accept the answer I give you?" Drago turned around and waddled away from me. Great now I had another person mad at me this day just gets better and better.

**I know this isn't a lot like Dan but I wanted to make it seem like he really missed Shun. And I made Marucho a gossip because I think it would work quit well for the story. Please review.**


	6. shuns talk

Shuns POV

When I returned home grandfather was waiting for me at the door of the dojo he had a disappointed scowl on his face and I checked the time on my phone 25 past 3 perfect I'm late now I'm going to get an ear full. Grandfather was very specific on time for the first couple weeks that I lived here he was constantly saying _the_ _early bird catches the worm, _what does that even mean? "I know grandfather I'm late" I sighed walking closer to him "but it wasn't my fault the whole class had to stay behind" we didn't really but I knew he would never find out that I lied. I had actually gone the long way home through the park just to see all the happy normal families. I didn't think walking that way would take much longer but I had obviously gotten distracted by the people and was staring at them longer than I realised I was, it's a good job nobody spotted me or they would have thought I was crazy. I stepped around my grandfather and into the courtyard waiting for training to start since I was late I predicted I would be in for some exceptionally tough training and annoyingly I was right.

I collapsed onto my bed arms splayed out. I turned my head to the side just as Skyress came out of my pocket to talk "are you ok, you look like your about to pass out" she asked in a worried tone. I gave her a tired smile and nodded. "Yeah, god this reminds me of my first day of training. My arms were practically numb for the rest of the day and I had constant pins and needles." Skyress nodded _she knew how awful my first day was_ and waddled closer to me "Shun, I think we should talk about Dan," I groaned and rolled over so she was facing my back "Shun that is a very immature response." I sighed and rolled back over. "Fine let's talk about _Dan_" I had been dreading this talk because I knew that Skyress was a very persuasive person and didn't back down easily, she was my partner sure and we did work extremely well together well but when you did something she didn't like oh it was hell. "Shun I propose that you give Dan a chance, he seems to have truly understood that his actions were wrong and is honestly sorry" I rolled my eyes at her she didn't know him as well as I did and I knew that Dan was rarely sincerer with his apologies he would say anything to get on your good side and if his actions had repercussions he didn't care. "I know that you are skeptical and I can't blame you after what he said I'm amazed that all you did was punch him but-." I gave her a small smile she could be very comforting when she wanted to be just like a mother, my smile immediately dropped when I thought that "no we will never be friends again, now be quiet I'm going to sleep" I cut Skyress of mid-sentence and closed my eyes I was so tired that I dropped straight off with my light still on no less, oh I was gonna be in trouble for that.

Yet again I was right, when I walked into the kitchen grandfather was staring at me with a rather angry face that clearly showed he was annoyed, he was one of those environmental people who flipped if you put the TV on stand bye. "Sorry" I sighed collapsing on my chair, my legs were still throbbing from yesterday and I didn't want to stand too long in case they gave out. "And what are you sorry for?" he asked me "for leaving my light on" I answered rolling my eyes why did he always have to make the smallest issue into a huge problem "good, now eat up or you're going to be late for school."

**this might be the last chapter for a while i'm runnin out of ideas, so if you have any please tell me**


	7. shun and dans fight

**this is only short cos im still doing the next part**

"Hey Shun" a voice rang across the school ground I quickly scanned around to find the source of the voice I spotted Dan racing towards me he had a serious expression on his face. He stopped about 3 feet away from me "what is it Dan?" I asked already dreading the conversation "I want to battle, settle our little disagreement right now" I admit it's a very good idea but I'm not going to let him know that "that's a stupid idea Dan," he looked annoyed at my answer "just listen alright, we have a 1 on 1 battle my strongest against your strongest whoever wins is right." He appeared to be quite pleased with his plan so I decided to hummer him "ok then I'll give it a go." Dan punched the air triumphantly "yes," we pulled out our field cards "field open" we called simultaneously. I gazed around as time slowed it had been so long since I had battled that I almost forgot just how amazing it was.

"Gate card set" we yelled throwing down our cards "bakugan brawl," Skyress and Drago crashed mid-air and a battle of will started first to give out would land on their opponents card witch I desperately wanted. Luck was on my side and Drago and collapsed on my card he quickly stood shortly followed by Skyress "gate card open," I instructed outstretching my arm "character." Skyress' power sored from 360gs to 720gs. "Let's finish this quickly Skyress," she nodded her head showing her approval "ability activate fire-" "well, well, well what do we have here." I was cut off by a mysterious voice I scanned around the battle arena but couldn't see anyone apart from Dan and our bakugan "up here" the voice called drawing our attention to the floating figure of masquerade the number 1 ranked brawler. "Masquerade" I muttered under my breath he was a very bad person he sent peoples bakugan to the doom dimension witch is practically were they were sent to rot. "Now this is a tough one, who to take," I stared up at him what the hell was he talking about "if I take you Shun I can get rid of one of the best bakugan brawlers, but if I take Dan well I can get rid of a potentially strong rival." I glanced at Dan and I could tell he was just as confused as I was "you know what I think I'll go for my second choice and take you Dan." With one swift wave of his hand Dan started floating and disappeared in a bright white light. "Dan," I yelled in shock "what did you do to him?" "Sorry but I can't answer that" with that said he vanished and left me staring at Drago and Skyress.

**what do you think I know that the fight is awful but it was my first one so review and tell me how to improve **


	8. flash back

Skyress returned to me along with Drago and once time started again he had time to freak out. "Oh my god what am I supposed to do I can't save vestroia without Daniel" I stared at Skyress expecting her to talk to him, she sighed jumped down and waddled over to him, he was sitting in the palm of my hand, "Drago calm down me and Shun will help you get Dan back don't worry everything will work out." She sounded very convincing if I didn't know her better I would have believed what she was saying. "right Shun" I didn't know what to say if I said yes I would have to deal with Skyress going on and on about how she was right and that I wanted to be friends again but if I said no then Drago would probably have a nervous breakdown so I just didn't answer, she let out an aggravated sigh "let him think it over I'm sure he'll give you an answer after school."

When I entered the classroom miss birdie asked me where Dan was I simply told her that he was ill witch she seemed to buy. I couldn't concentrate the entire day I was constantly stuck in my head debating on whether or not to help him after a while I realised that I wasn't going to come to a decision based on my recent feelings so I decided to delve into my memories to reach my conclusion.

Flash back

_I was racing down the street to get to Dan's house it was 3 days after his 9__th__ birthday and he said there was a problem with the present he got from his mum and dad; they had bought him twin nerf ball guns. I was supposed to meet him later for a sleep over so we could test out his new toy but when my mum got his call she told me that Dan had a problem and I needed to go over now she handed me one of my favourite jackets it was a Christmas present from Dan it was a black jean jacket that had a green phoenix on the back and ushered me out the door. _

_Once I made it to Dan's house his mum sent me straight up the stairs as soon as I was outside his room all the lights went out and I was left staring at nothing, I heard a bump like someone had walked into the table at the top of the stares I turned as quickly as I could and saw a ghostly outline come towards me I heard a slight giggle and immediately recognised it as Dan I scanned around as best I could with my compromised vision and spotted a gun hanging of the table Dan had walked into I grabbed it and started firing blindly into the darkness once I was out I threw the gun on the floor and started spinning helplessly as I saw Dan's figure shoot towards me and he started firing at my chest because I was still spinning he hit me all over and once he was out as well the lights came back on. With the lights on I could see the full extent of what we had done; the family picture was on the floor the table Dan had crashed into had been turned over and he was sitting in front of me with a big smirk on his face I collapsed next to him and we started laughing his mum came upstairs to see why we were laughing and she was not happy we had to sit threw a lecture of the dangers of playing on the stairs. It didn't matter though because we were both too happy to pay attention._

End flash back

"I'll help him." I whispered to Skyress she popped out of my jacket to make sure she herd me right when she realised she had she dove back into my jacket to tell Drago the news. I was sure he would be thrilled since he had been sulking ever since Dan was taken.


	9. dan

Dan's POV

I was slipping in and out of consciousness the entire time masquerade was dragging me back to his _base_ where he and Hal-G were operating. On my latest trip into the blissful serenity I was reliving my most treasured memory of me and Shun, we were 9 years old and were celebrating some holiday we had made up I have no recollection of what the holiday was only that on that day you weren't allowed to yell or scream but you had to make the other yell or scream as much as possible, I know it's a horrible holiday but we were 9, and at the end of the day the person who screamed the least got to choose a punishment for the other.

Flash back 

_I was searching franticly for Shun this year I was going to win in our little holiday I was going to win for once I would get to give him a punishment it was my turn now _"Shun, come out come out _where ever you are, stop hiding." "Whoever said I was hiding?" I span around as fast as I could and saw Shun standing in front of a huge lake he was wearing his swim trunks and a blue jean jacket,_ I_ had bought him 2 for Christmas last year and he seemed to like them, he was soaking wet he had obviously been swimming and was showing off because he got his 10 meter swimming badge before me. "I did" I don't know why I said that but once I had I charged at him and tackled him sending us both flying into the water it was supposed to make him yell but of cause he didn't he just ended up swinging his arms madly in a futile attempt to stay balanced. We landed with a rather disappointing splash in the water you would have thought 2 people would at least make a medium sized on but we got more of a plop. "I win" Shun stated "fine but can we save the punishment till tomorrow cause I really want to go swimming" I knew Shun would want to as well since he always relished in any chance he got to prove he was better than me "sure as long as we can have a race" "fine let me just get changed first" I pushed myself up and onto my feet water practical rained of me "why your already soaked" he had a point. I walked further into the lake till the water was to my waist and motioned for Shun to follow. He stood beside me pulled his jacket off and let it float of through the water I saw a smirk plastered on his face he obviously thought he would win which he probably would but I wasn't going to make it easy for him. "Ready, set, GO!" I called and we set off he had a head start but I wasn't too far behind it would be close just like I wanted. But of cause he still won I wasn't too surprised about it he did have his 10 meter badge after all but even though I wasn't surprised I was still slightly disappointed that I lost "I will beat you" I told him on the other side of the lake "I'll look forwards to it" he smiled back reaching out and grabbing his jacket which had drifted over to us_

End flask back

Once the flash back ended I regained consciousness again and I had chance to take in my surroundings I appeared to be in some sort of castle but I couldn't be too sure about it since my vision was still foggy. I turned my head trying to get a better picture of where I was when I saw Julio Santana he was 1 of masquerade's lackeys dragging me by the collar well this is just great, and with that I passed out again.


	10. talking with old friends

Shuns POV

During break I went back to the old tree where I spent my last break. It seemed like the perfect place for us to discuss how to get Dan back seeing as it was so secluded. I took Drago and Skyress out of my pocket and set them on the root that Skyress had fallen off yesterday. "What do you propose we do Shun?" Drago asked me his voice was drenched with worry "I think we should locate him first by his bakupod if we contact the site manager he should be able to give us a location based on his user name" I explained to them trying to make it as simple as possible because I knew that when people are stressed they don't think very well. "That's good but how do we contact him?" Skyress asked me, see what I mean? "we send him a message" I answered in a monotone trying not to get irritated by their questions they were panicking after all. They nodded in unison it seemed as if they were coming to terms with Dan being taken and were ready to set off to save him.

After school I jumped over the wall of the dojo so grandfather wouldn't see me and make me start training. I snuck into the little room where we kept the computer and sent a message to Joe hopefully he would reply because it was common knowledge that Joe rarely logged into the bakuroom chat line and just observed everyone else. About 5 minutes later I received my reply it read

_Shun,_

_I have located Dan he's in Germany, Dan's bakupod says that he's in Klaus von Hertzon castle I'm guessing that masquerade has set up shop there probably with Hal-G. So if I were you I'd be on the look out every move you make is more than likely to be being watched. If you're still planning on going then I would take some back up. Keep me updated._

_Joe._

Back up, I don't need back up I can take care of myself who's that Joe think he is? I let out a puff of air that was almost a sigh but not quite, maybe I don't need any back up but it wouldn't hurt to have someone to watch my back like he said I could be being watched. I decided to message Marucho and see if he and the others would help I assumed they would seeing as Dan was their friend. Marucho answered as soon as I messaged which was kind of strange I thought he would at least wait and think about it for a while seeing as we weren't friends anymore.

"Hello Shun, what can I do for you we haven't spoken for a while have we?" I was already regretting my decision when I looked at his smiling face I didn't used to mind it but after we fell out it just got irritating. I tried to act like I didn't mind and answered him "I'm going to get Dan and was wondering if you would want to come and help." I saw his face brighten even more as his smile grew he was starting to remind me of Julie, another Julie, that was a scary thought. "of course I would, hold on I'll just get the others we'll all go save Dan together. What do you say do you want all of us to help or not?" I cringed inwardly but tried to mask it as best as I could "of course I want all of you to help" it was a struggle to not say it through clenched teeth and I tried to sound as casual as possible he nodded and his screen flickered off. "well that looked painful" Drago remarked waddling over to me. He was about to speak again when Marucho reappeared on the screen with Julie, Runo and Alice appearing soon after him "oh Drago that's where you are we were all worried you had been taken as well" Julie exclaimed pushing her face closer to her screen I ignored what Julie said next seeing as it was directed at Drago and glanced at all my ex friends faces. Marucho was trying to get Julie to calm down, Alice just smiled sweetly at the sight of them and Runo looked like she could kill hopefully not me. She was well known for her temper and had most people including Dan wrapped around her little finger. "hello Shun, how are you? We didn't have a chance to speak yesterday what with you walking away from us and all" Runo spoke in a mock friendship tone. Well looks like I'm gonna be in hell for a while, the things you do for your partners but I guess I do owe her for everything she's done for me.

After an hour of talking and preparing a plan we decided that Julie and Runo would go through the front to divert their attention. Marucho and I would go from the back and search. While Julie and Runo were diverting attention I would search the old fashioned way of looking while Marucho tried to minimise the search using his bakupod to locate Dan more precisely. Since we had finished our talk I turned off my computer and slumped back laying on the floor I let out a huge sigh and closed my eyes glad for the peace "at least we have a plan be thankful for that my Shun" Skyress spoke up breaking the blessed silence "yea then I can ditch Drago without feeling guilty" I joked it was rare for me to joke and I only did it around Skyress. She was like my mother I felt like I could do anything around her and not be judged like I didn't have to put up a wall to protect myself. Drago at hearing my joke huffed and rolled into a ball "touchy" Skyress commented stifling a laugh "come on guys I have to go see grandfather and make an excuse on why I'm late." I held out my hand for them to jump on and placed them in my pocket

Grandfather wasn't happy with me being late I had 6 hours of training and after the extra hard training yesterday I felt like I could throw up. I literally passed out as soon as my head touched my pillow. I woke up just after midnight with Skyress knocking into my face I swatted her away and tried to go back to sleep but it was futile. I was awake groaning I opened my eyes slightly "what?" she rolled back over to me and opened "are we going to contact the others we need to start our plan soon and I'm not sharing my bed for much longer he snores."

**sorry it took so long to get this chapter up i had writers block**


	11. plan into action

**sorry this is so short but I'm doing a battle next chapter also I forgot to put Alice in the plan so I added her here.**

Marucho's plane did a flyover the dojo he wanted to land but I wouldn't let him, I left grandfather a note so he knew where I was, so I was on the roof so he couldn't land like he wanted to and wake grandfather I used my favourite toy, my grappling hook, to hook to the plane and flew off dangling from the rope for a few seconds before climbing up it. I entered through the plane door and walked over to the couch Marucho had in the centre of his plane everyone was spread out across the curved couch I stood in the corner by the window enjoying the peacefulness of the sky stretched out before me everything looked so calm I could get lost in my thoughts here "master Marucho is there anything I can get you and your guests" a voice came through the intercom I immediately recognised it as Kato Marucho's butler/pilot "no thank you Kato everyone's fine" Marucho called back through the intercoms mouthpiece "understood sir" Kato answered then switched off the intercom. "would anyone like to play a game there isn't an in-flight movie" Marucho smiled at everyone Julie grinned and nodded furiously, Runo looked like she didn't mind and Alice agreed as well, everyone's attention turned to me and I pretended to not understand what they meant, "well Shun do you want to play?" Alice asked me a small smile appearing on her face I glanced at Skyress who was perched on my shoulder and she nodded indicating that she wanted me to go along with it and play, "fine"

The game was tortuous it was hours of eye spy we're in a plane above the clouds there was only so many things you could spy before you went insane "is it a pillow?" Julie asked, this was one of the long rounds "nope…" Marucho answered simply "wait, was it, I don't know… I don't remember." there was a loud groan and the last two to actually enjoy the game gave in and slumped on the couch like the rest of them, I however stayed firmly planted by the window. Watching as the buildings filled in the small gaps in the clouds, "attention everyone we have arrived in Germany." Kato's voice broke the awkward silence that had fallen over the plane and a sigh of relief could be heard coming from each of them I smiled inwardly at the knowledge that if this worked then I would be free of them forever Skyress noticed this and was about to question me about it when the plane started to land.

They were all surprisingly exited when we got off the plane I can only guess that it was because they hadn't been to Germany before I seemed to be the only one actually focused on the job at hand. I glanced at their faces and saw how anxious and nervous Runo appeared to be, "looks like you're not the only one looking forwards to this whole episode ending." Skyress commented when she noticed Runo I nodded at her statement not really paying attention. I mindlessly followed them to consumed with my thoughts to pay attention to where we were heading.

Before I knew it we were in front of a huge castle it looked very posh and old, there was a frozen lake near the castle and Julie was staring at it excitement evident on her face "can we go ice skating later?" she practically begged clearly she wasn't focused on our mission I sighed and Marucho shuck his head "no we can't Julie I think we have more pressing issues than that right now." the excitement left Julies face "yea like finding Dan." Runo added giving Julie a slight glare "let's not fight guys like Runo said we need to find Dan." Alice ever the peace maker piped up and as usual everyone agreed with her. Bored of listening to them I walked towards the castle. They immediately noticed my absence much to my surprise and ran after me "wait up Shun what's the rush?" Julie asked earning another glare from Runo "oh right… you must be really worried about Dan yea." I sighed at how naive she was I just wanted to get this over with I wasn't in the slightest bit worried about Dan… well maybe the tiniest part of was worried.

When we were all in position Alice (she was the organiser) contacted us and made sure we all knew exactly what we were doing we had one chance to do this there was no room for mistakes once we had all confirmed that we understood completely we started.

We had all agreed to keep regular updates so we didn't make any stupid mistakes and so far everything was going as planned Julio and Klaus were going after Julie and Runo leaving the area they were meant to be watching completely exposed allowing us to slip through unnoticed. The security cameras that were scanning further down the hall weren't a problem either because I grabbed Marucho and dashed through there before the senses even faced our direction. "Thanks Shun." Marucho mumbled looking up to me readjusting his glasses, they had been dislodged from their usual resting place when we were running through the cameras, I nodded in acknowledgement and peered around the corner when I saw no one there I motioned for Marucho to follow. We made it down another 3 halls and were so close to finishing our mission when Komba stepped into our line of sight I had no idea he had been taken as well I knew that Klaus was but not Komba "if you think I'm gonna just let you waltz right in there and take Kuso after all the trouble masquerade went through to get him you got another thing coming." Komba stated holding his field card out "Marucho let me handle him I know his strategies his moves I can beat him. Easy." I told him pulling my card out as well "let's make this a 1 on 1 battle Komba." He nodded in reply "field open." We called I saw Marucho try to get in to the battle before the time freeze got him but unfortunately for him he was to slow.


	12. komba

"Gate card set" we threw our gate cards down "Shun which one of us are you going to use?" Skyress asked, I knew I was going to use her, Drago would want to fight masquerade himself for taking his partner, "you Skyress Drago's going to fight masquerade." I told her before she jumped into my hand. "Come on Shun I haven't got all day." Komba sighed impatiently. "Ready Skyress" she nodded "bakugan brawl!" we yelled throwing our bakugan head on towards each other I knew Skyress was 10g's weaker than Harpus so she had to stand first if we were going to win as easily as I wanted "bakugan stand!" I called. She stood before Harpus and Harpus's ball bounced off Skyress's wing which she used to cover her stomach. "Bakugan stand!" Komba commanded, Harpus stood holding her hands above her head in the style of a pirouette her wings spread out to her sides "hey it's Skyress long time no see girl." Harpus greeted her "you're looking good Granma." She taunted "Harpus it's been awhile I wish I could say it's a pleasure." "Let's make this short and sweet Skyress we've got no time to waste" she nodded "ability activate feather storm!" Harpus's power went from up 100g's and once she sent the attack she went head first towards Skyress to attack her "ability activate green nobility sore violent winds" I commanded holding my ability card out. Skyress's power doubled and she went head on towards Harpus, Harpus realising that she couldn't beat Skyress's power stopped and hugged herself "I'm in trouble." Skyress hit her and she was instantly returned to her ball "what? We didn't even get a chance to battle." Komba complained. When the time freeze ended Marucho continued running and I had to stop him before he ran into Komba "that was so unfair you cheated." Komba whined before running of to tell masquerade that he lost. "Let's keep moving we've lost enough time as it is." I told Marucho before we carried on in the direction Komba ran off in.

Dan's POV

I had woken up about 15 minutes ago but I was still disorientated so I couldn't really understand what masquerade was saying so far I had gathered was that there were intruders about 4 of them and they were closing in on masquerade's observation room, where I was being held, I tried to talk but I was so out of it that I couldn't all I could do was hope that the intruders were my friends and they were here to save me. If they were my friends I hoped that Shun was there as well I really needed to apologise again see if he was ready to forgive me being kidnapped gives you a lot of time to think and I know that Shun was the best friend I ever had and I will beg him to forgive me and won't stop till he does no matter how long it takes. I groaned the restraints that were holding my arms behind my back were rubbing against my wrists and were starting to cause rope burn "well look whose awake I admit I'm impressed that you're conscious." Chan lee praised but there was an undertone of sarcasm. I swallowed and took a deep breath "don't make me tell Joe that you're here." I mocked Chan liked Joe and I knew that if I got her mad enough she would become irrational and I could trick her into letting me go "shut up I'm not going to fall for your trick's Dan" she spat out my name as if it were poison. She was about to say something else when masquerade came back in tailed by Julio and Klaus who were hanging their heads in what I presumed to be shame. He was mumbling about how embarrassing it was to have two failures work for him and that they weren't even fit to be called servants. They sat down next to me and were scowling at masquerade "trouble in paradise." I joked earning a glare from them all "be quite Dan this doesn't involve you, well not directly at least we still have at a good 20 minutes or so till they get here." He muttered that last part under his breath but I still caught it and relief flooded me when I realised that it was my friends that had infiltrated his hideout. There was a loud bang and my gaze was directed at the door I saw a panting kid looking at masquerade "I'm so sorry but Shun beat me and I had to run back here before he could capture me" I recognised his voice when he spoke but I couldn't place it I was still far to groggy to fully focus I was so bad that I didn't even register the fact that he said Shun until they were in the midst of an argument.

Shuns POV

We managed to track Komba all the way to a set of huge double doors that towered over us I could hear some talking behind the door but it was all muffled. Suddenly there was a loud slam like something or someone had been hit and Marucho jumped and rather humiliating for him grabbed my leg, when the shock of the slam faded he laughed his nervous laugh and stepped back, always nice to add a bit of hummer to a serious situation, I thought a small smile passed over my face but I quickly erased it and pushed the doors open.

"Morning masquerade fancy seeing you here but since you are how about a battle? Winner gets Dan." I asked smugly I was sure I would win "why of cause Shun what do you think 1 on 1?" he asked me back I nodded and pulled my field card out I glanced at Marucho and asked him "do you want to watch the battle?" he nodded furiously and stepped beside me. "Field open!" we yelled and the swirl of light that came every battle returned I had been so consumed with beating Komba during my last battle that I hadn't taken the time to enjoy it.

**sorry it took so long to get this chapter up I've been so busy with school that I haven't had the time **


	13. masquerade

"Gate card set" we yelled throwing our cards to the ground "ready Drago?" I asked holding my hand out for him to jump on to "you bet" he stated jumping off my shoulder "bakugan brawl!" I called throwing Drago onto my gate card "Drago stand" I ordered "bakugan brawl hydranoid stand." He commanded and a black and purple creature stood before me. He was on all fours and his neck stretched out far from him and his tail was swaying like a cat when it's angry "this is the bakugan I must battle against he isn't worth a moment of my time" he insulted Drago and started speaking to masquerade "battling him will be an insult to my skill. Why must I battle? Why couldn't you leave him to laserman?" masquerade answered him simply "you will do as I order now start battling and defeat him." Rather disgruntled he turned and charged at Drago. Before he could hit him I activated an ability hydranoid was 110gs higher in power than Drago so I had to choose the right ability or I would lose "ability activate fire tornado!" I called holding the ability out in front of me. Drago roared and after the power transfer ended he attacked hydranoid with his tail knocking him off balance but not to the ground "ability activate merge shield" masquerade yelled I looked at my bakupod and saw that Drago was 10gs weaker than hydranoid. I quickly activated another ability "boosted dragon" Drago attacked hydranoid and whilst they were battling I glanced over to Marucho he hadn't said a word and I had to make sure he was ok. When I looked at him I saw pure excitement plastered all over his face "you ok Marucho?" I asked "I'm more than ok Shun this is so exciting I can't wait to see who wins thank you so much for letting me watch this" shaking my head I stared back at Drago and hydranoid they were in a battle of wills. Drago may have been more powerful than hydranoid at the moment but that could quickly change "ability activate chaos of the darkness." I heard masquerade hiss out holding the ability card over his head I looked at my bakupod again and saw we were 110gs behind again "this is starting to get annoying" I complained. I took out another ability and cried "fusion ability activate delta flare!" 100gs were added to Drago's power. Before Drago attacked I opened my gate card "gate card open character" Drago's power soared to 1080gs and he attacked hydranoid with all he had knocking him to the floor. He barely had time to cry out in pain before he returned to his ball and rolled to a stop in front of masquerade's feet. I heard masquerade growl in frustration and pick up hydranoid. I held my hand out for Drago to return to me when he did Marucho and I congratulated him "Drago you did amazing" Marucho started "yea Drago you should be proud because of you we got Dan back" I finished. After we congratulated him the field disappeared and we were back in masquerade's hiding spot.

"Come on masquerade we had a deal you lost we get Dan." I smirked and gestured over to Dan I saw him smile this was the first time I had acknowledged him since we entered the room. "Of cause" he answered "Chan untie him" Chan was about to protest but was cut off before she even started when she received a cold glare from masquerade. Grumbling something under her breath she reluctantly walked over to Dan and untied the ropes that were restraining him. I watched as she unwound the rope and almost laughed at Dan's expression. When he saw the ropes it was obvious that he had no idea he was tied up and his expression showed that very clearly. It was shock, curiousness and a hint of humour at the end. "There he's free now are we just going to let them leave or are we going to stop them?" Chan snapped going over to masquerades side I ignored the rest of their conversation and continued watching Dan as he tried to stand "sorry guys guess I'm a little wobbly." Dan laughed I went over to him and held onto his arm giving him extra support. Once he was stable I let go grabbed Drago who had returned to my shoulder and held him out in the palm of my hand "here, I'm sure you want him back." I saw Dan smile and carefully pick up Drago "hey pal sorry about leaving you, can you forgive me?" Dan smirked at Drago and I could have sworn that I heard Drago sigh in aggravation. Dan was about to say something when Marucho butted into our conversation before we could move on to the subject that had ruined our friendship "come on lets go." we nodded in unison and started making our way out of the room "later masquerade, hopefully we'll see each other again but I just pray that it's in better circumstances." Dan joked waving bye to a very annoyed masquerade.

While we were walking down the hall, we were going to find Julie and Runo so we could leave, Dan turned to me "so, can you forgive me yet?" he smiled hopefully I thought for a second before I answered him "thinking about it. But for now I can only just stand being in your company without wanting to punch you. Again." He smiled as we rounded a corner "man where are they?" Dan whined "guys wait a second I'm gonna contact Alice." He started pushing buttons on his bakupod and waited for Alice to respond when there wasn't a response he started tapping the screen "I doubt that's going to work" I commented dryly. "Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas on how to contact her" he retorted. I thought about it and chose not to answer, instead I decided to contact Kato. "Kato is Alice there?" I asked connecting to Kato's line. "Sorry Master Shun but Miss Alice left about 10 minutes ago saying she was going to go help you and master Marucho find Master Dan" Kato answered me "ok thanks Kato" with that I disconnected from Kato "apparently Alice left to help us find you. He said that she left the plane 10 minutes ago" I told them "that why you couldn't contact her Dan." I had a smug undertone in my voice that I knew would irritate him. No one talked after that, we were all too preoccupied with searching for Julie Runo and now Alice. We rounded another corner and Marucho crashed into someone ending up on his back with a blue haired person on top of him. "What? Oh sorry Marucho" Runo half laughed as she pushed herself up off the floor pulling Marucho up with her "that's ok." Marucho answered brushing himself down "HEY WE FOUND YOU!" he then yelled ecstatic. "shh Marucho keep it down will you I have a splitting headache." Julie whined covering her ears he gave her a nervous laugh "sorry" I rolled my eyes and asked "have you seen Alice? Kato said she left the plane to help Dan." They shuck their heads and then they realised that Dan was standing behind me "Dan!" they cried simultaneously running over to him and hugging him "you're alive. I thought they killed you" Julie admitted when she released him. "Thanks for hoping for the best Julie I can always depend on you." He answered his voice filled with sarcasm. "Come on we don't have time for this we have to find Alice so we can get back to the plane" I told them walking off. I only took 2 steps when I was stopped by Runo "what you hate being around us so much that you can't even walk with us?" I sighed to myself "just hurry up." I started walking again and they followed quietly behind.

**again I'm sorry it took so long hopefully the next chapter will be out quicker **


	14. where's Alice?

"Maybe we should just leave her I mean she's a smart girl she can find her own way back" Dan suggested in a whiney tone. His suggestion on leaving Alice behind resulted in a smack on the back of the head from Runo "say anything like that Dan and that'll be the last thing you ever do" she threatened, Dan looked at me for back up and I had no idea why. We still weren't friends like I told him earlier I could only just stand being around him without hitting him "don't look at me, fight your own battles." I told him ignoring the rest of his conversation with her. "Do you think she went back to the plane?" Skyress asked talking for the first time in over an hour which was a pleasant surprise. I really did enjoy talking to her especially when I was around them she was the only sane thing in this little group "I don't know. I could try Kato again." I offered and she nodded. I connected to Kato line again "has Alice returned yet Kato?" I saw him shake his head on the tiny screen "no she has not master Shun but I did receive a message from her a few minutes ago saying she was making her way out to the plane." Kato informed me "Kato how did Alice contact you when we tried she didn't answer." I asked him my voice showing obvious confusion "she told me that masquerade had sent out a signal blocking her from talking to you, so she would be forced to enter the building and get captured." I nodded in understanding "thank you Kato" I told him disconnecting "Kato says that she's on her way back to the plane" everyone looked at me and I saw Dan sigh "so we've been walking around for the past 20 minutes for no reason?" he asked looking really annoyed I nodded "can we go then?" I rolled my eyes "no Dan were going to look around for a bit longer till we get bored and decide to go home" I deadpanned my voice dripping sarcasm. "Let's go then" Marucho piped up preventing yet another fight between us.

When we got out of the building Julie was saying how easy it was that we got out with no problems. I couldn't help but think that she was ditzy I beat masquerade so there was no point in trying to stop us cos I could just beat anyone he sent after us and we wouldn't have lost a second thanks to the time freeze. "Hey guys I've been waiting for you" we all turned and saw Alice sitting in the shade of a tree "hey Alice what are you doing?" Runo asked going over to her "I was relaxing in the heat but I didn't want to get burned so I sat in the shade" she explained Runo nodded and walked back over to us "we've been looking everywhere in there for you Alice you have no idea how annoying Dan was" Julie told her. Pot calling the kettle black I thought as we went over to the plane to go home.

During the flight Dan was telling everyone what happened after he was taken which didn't take very long seeing as he was unconscious most of the time. Then Marucho told them what happened after we split up to find Dan and they were all interested in the battle. Typical though they were all addicted to brawling. Next Drago told them about what happened when he was at my house and how I agreed to help find Dan only a few hours later. Of cause that got Dan asking if I had forgiven him yet and although I nearly had I couldn't let him know or he'd start being annoying again well more annoying at least "are we there yet I'm bored" Julie complained. "Sorry Julie but it'll be another hour yet at least" Marucho told her which got Julie whining and to shut her up Gorem started telling a story on what it was like in the subterra attributed world in vestroia. Then Preyas started telling his story which I have to admit was a lot more amusing. It involved him getting hit on the head by a very angry juggernoid. After Preyas's story Drago told his followed by Tigrerra. When her story was over everyone looked at Skyress who was sitting quietly on my shoulder "well Skyress what was it like in the ventus world on vestroia?" Alice asked "it was like all of the other worlds just for ventus bakugan instead of all the other attributes" she answered Alice nodded and everyone else looked disappointed at the shortness of her story but I was glad with that. Skyress was like me she liked silence and I knew that when she would answer thing with short answers she didn't want anyone to talk. "How much longer now Marucho?" Julie asked preventing an awkward silence developing. Marucho looked at his watch then out of the huge side window "just a few minutes Julie." He told her smiling she nodded happily "ok so what do we do till then?" I inwardly groaned. Doesn't she ever just want silence? I thought that when Skyress didn't talk much about where she was from Julie would take the hint that she wanted silence but of course she's oblivious "Julie will you just be quiet for the last part of the flight?" I finally snapped at her she frowned but nodded. I could hear Skyress's relived sigh "thank you my Shun" she whispered to me I looked at her and gave a slight smile.

Mercifully the final part of the flight was silent. Julie was in a bit of a strop which did create a bit of a bad mood in the plane but I didn't really care I was just glad that that it was quiet enough so I could hear my own thoughts "everyone we will be landing in a couple minutes" Kato's voice came over the intercom "can I talk now?" Julie asked quietly. I inwardly groaned of course I'm finally content around them and they had to break my blissful silence "of cause you can Julie" Skyress answered for me sensing my frustration. I quietly thanked her and walked away from the window I had been standing near and sat down on the edge of the couch near Runo. She stared at me for a moment feeling slightly uncomfortable. I gave her a slight glare and she shook her head looking away "looks like they're slightly shocked that you actually sat down with them Shun" Skyress whispered to me "yea well I wouldn't have but I've had a busy day and honestly my legs are killing me" I whispered back earning an almost silent laugh from her so quiet that the others couldn't hear and just loud enough that I could.

As soon as the plane landed everyone erupted into talking about masquerade. Lord knows why they didn't talk about him on the plane if they had then I wouldn't have minded the noise "so I think we should try and get some of his lackeys back on our side probably start with Komba or Chan. They're the most likely to change sides with Chan liking Joe and Komba pretty much worshiping Shun" Dan suggested and to my surprise he had actually thought something through. They all agreed then turned to me, I was standing away from the group "can we count on you to help us Shun?" Runo asked me "I guess I kinda have too don't I" I answered in my monotones voice. They didn't look happy with my answer but were pleased that I was going to help them. "Ok so we'll meet back here in an hour after we get some stuff from home that ok with you Marucho?" Dan asked. "Sure just as long as you all don't take too long I'm anxious to get back at masquerade for everything he's done" Marucho answered in his usual cheery mood. We all separated going back to our homes.

"Grandfather I'm back." I called walking through the huge double doors. "Shun you're back! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? You could have told me you were going to be out! You're going to train especially hard today as punishment for not telling me you were going out". "Grandfather I left you a note!" I countered not wanting another day of 6 hour training my arms were still throbbing from the last one "I just came back to tell you I'm going on a trip with Dan and the others and won't be back for a bit. Also I need to pick up some stuff. I have no idea how long I'll be gone so don't expect me to be home too soon" I walked past him and into the dojo heading straight to my room not caring that he was still stood by the open door. I packed a few things and left straight after mumbling a bye to my grandfather who had managed to come inside.

**please review**


	15. at Marucho's

**I changed the layout because i was re-reading some of the story and I was having trouble keeping track of who was talking kind of bad if you can't tell who's talking in your own story!**

I was the first to arrive back at Marucho's much to my disappointment. I wasn't disappointed that I was the first back just that it meant I would have to listen to Marucho go on and on about how I did care about them and how I did want to be back on the team. I had to stop him before he even started

"Marucho before you start the only reason I'm here is cause I didn't want to have a 6 hour training session from my grandfather for leaving." He had a smile on his face that instantly dropped at my statement.

"Ok but honestly while it's just you and me have you forgiven him yet? He keeps going on about how it kills him that he let you down" Marucho asked quietly in case Kato heard him.

"No one else will find out?" I was sceptical and you can't blame me for that. He ran his fingers across his lips signalling that he wasn't going to say a word about it "nearly, I've nearly forgiven him but I can't completely for some reason" I admitted.

"I completely understand Shun but promise you'll tell me as soon as you can."

I nodded "sure".

We were silent after that. Neither of us wanted to make small talk or anything like that. Before we would easily talk to each other like brothers. It was like that with them all but after my and Dan's fight it all changed. Thankfully Runo and Alice came soon after we stopped talking preventing the silence that had built up becoming awkward

"Hey why's it so silent in here you alone Marucho?" Runo asked walking in not seeing me "oh hi Shun didn't see you there" she greeted awkwardly

"Yea I kinda figured" I deadpanned not caring if I annoyed her. Marucho started talking to Runo while Alice sat next to me. She stared at me for a few seconds but I ignored her she continued staring and it started getting really annoying. I turned my head over to her as calmly as I could not allowing my frustration to show. I glared at her slightly

"Why are you looking at me?" she smiled at me like I had asked her the sweetest thing, it was really annoying

"I was just wondering. Why were you the first here I thought you still hated us?"

"I had to get out of the house before my grandfather put me through another 6 hour training session 5 hours were bad enough but 6 could kill me" I answered as simply as possible while still covering the bases trying to prevent her from asking any follow up questions

"5 hours that's incredible Shun I could never do that" I groaned inwardly I may have prevented any more questions but that obviously didn't stop her talking "what was it like when you first trained?" ok maybe I hadn't completely stopped her from asking questions

"It was torture Alice my arms and legs felt like they would fall off and I was lying in bed unable to move for a couple hours before I had to get up for my supper. If I had had my way that night I would have been in bed for another 3-4 hours" I told her quickly turning away so she wouldn't ask any more questions

"Oh that must have been hard when did you get over it?" she kept asking questions.

"About a week later now would you mind annoying someone else?" her face dropped and she nodded turning away to talk with Runo and Marucho. I found myself praying that Dan would turn up soon which really surprised me and from the way Skyress talked to me a few seconds later it seemed like she had picked up on it as well

"Are you ok Shun you seem tense? Anxious to get going or worried about seeing Dan and having to spend so much time with him?"

"The second one" I answered gloomily.

"Don't be upset my Shun this will be over soon and you and Dan will be best friends again just like you were in the stories you told me when we first met" she told me confidently but quietly so the others wouldn't hear. She knew how much I would hate it if they knew that I had told her stories of the old days when me and Dan were inseparable and Julie had a crush on Dan much to Runo's annoyance which she didn't hide very well and Marucho would daydream about Alice wanting to date him. I really missed those days but I couldn't admit that to them

"Hey guys sorry I'm late" a voice came in followed by Dan smiling and scratching the back of his head.

"Well it's about time who do you think we are Dan we were so close to leaving you" Runo yelled at him causing Marucho to jump back slightly screaming because of the close proximity

"I said I was sorry," he whined "but we shouldn't get in a fight now. Come on lets go I'm itching to get my hands on masquerade for what he did to me." He continued and Marucho added

"Yea we can't let Shun have all the fun can we battling Komba and masquerade is enough for him for a while it's mine and Preyas's turn"

"Don't forget about Tigrerra she hasn't had a decent battle for a while now. The only one who came close to being a challenge for her was Julio and that was only because of that ability card he used flair blinder. Without that me and Tigrerra would have taken care of him no problem"

"Don't hog all the battles though me and my sweet Gorem need to have a battle too. I want to battle Chan." She declared

"Why do you want to battle Chan?" Dan asked confused

"Uh hello so I can find out the gossip on her and Joe" I stared at her and decided to voice my wonderings

"Why not just call Joe and ask I'm sure he wouldn't mind" they all looked at me and agreed with what I was saying Julie scowled

"It's more fun this way"

"It may be more fun but it's really annoying when you just do things the hard way just to find out gossip. Why not be like any other normal person and take the easy road?" I retorted and they all looked shocked by what I had to say but they all quickly agreed. I looked at Julie's face and she was shocked by what I had to say.

"I'm not even going to bother Marucho can we please set off now?"

"Oh of cause Julie I'll just go and inform Kato that we'll be setting off in a minute. While you all wait why not check your belongings. Make sure you all check how many bakugan you have brought in case of the worst case scenario happens and we lose one. Make sure you have a minimum of 3 not including your partner." Marucho walked off while we all opened our bags and rummaged through to find our bakugan. When I found mine I counted and I had 3 then I made sure I had brought with me the correct ones. It would be embarrassing if I threw down one and it turned out to be the wrong one… yep all correct I had monarus, ravenoid and falconeer

"Looks like the others found their bakugan too" Skyress told me while I was putting mine back in a comfortable place. I looked up and saw they were all smiling, well almost all, Runo was digging and grumbling angrily to herself while Tigrerra was comforting her.

"Maybe I should go see what's wrong?" Skyress offered I nodded and she jumped off my shoulder and waddled over to Runo. I listened to what they were saying "Runo are you ok you seem agitated?" Skyress asked

"No I'm not ok my bakugan have run off!" Runo announced getting even more agitated

"How about you let me have a look in there? I'm sure I'll find them after all I'm a lot smaller than you and can look everywhere" I could tell by her tone that she was smiling at Runo

"Well that's nice of you Skyress thank you"

"You're we-" she started but was cut off.

"You'd think my partner would want to help me but no someone else's offers in her place" Runo's voice sounded too nice and I had a feeling that she would go off soon if she didn't find her bakugan. She lifted Skyress and placed her in her bag. The sides of her bag moved as Skyress moved around in it. Suddenly the movement stopped

"Found them!" she called and a spot of Runo's bag started bulging. Runo stuck her hand in her bag and felt around for Skyress when she pulled her hand out she was holding Skyress and to my surprise Skyress was holding one of Runo's shirts

"Why'd you got my shirt Skyress?" she asked "good question I have your shirt because your bakugan have been trapped in it. She releases the shirt and sure enough 3 bakugan drop out and bounced on the floor

"Oh thank you Skyress" Runo mumbled slightly embarrassed. She placed her down and picked up her bakugan. Skyress waddled over to me

"That girl has too many clothes" she whispered to me as she jumped onto my shoulder

"Hey guys come on its time to go" Marucho opened the door and walked over to us "Kato's in the plane setting up so come on before he gets bored of waiting for us" we all nodded and followed Marucho out of the room and towards the plane.

While we were walking Dan asked "hey do any of you know where they are?"

**please review**


	16. beestriker

**sorry for the wait but here it is and please review once you've read**

"I can't believe none of us thought to find out where they would be" Marucho complained

"Why wouldn't they be in the same place as before?" Julie asked completely oblivious

"Think about it, what are the chances of them staying in the same place after we broke in, took Dan back and beat masquerade? Chances are that they moved somewhere they would considered safe" Marucho answered

"Oh so why don't we just go back to the place we went to yesterday see if we can find anything that could help us find them?" she pondered out loud and we were all a little shocked by her suggestion. We always saw her as a bit ditzy and never took her suggestions that seriously. We would always think them over but never really considered them as ones that could benefit us

"That's a good idea Julie I'll tell Kato that we're going back to Germany" we all nodded at him as he ran off again.

We walked out towards the plane and found Marucho waiting outside the plane "guys Kato said we can set off as soon as we want"

"Good. Marucho we'll go straight there" Dan called over to him before walking past him and into the plane. Everyone followed him and I was the last to enter and shut the door behind me

"So you got an inflight movie yet?" Dan joked sitting on the couch

"No Dan but we can always play a game" Marucho smiled. Oh please don't let it be I-spy again I silently begged in my head.

"Wow this is a hard one is it…Preyas?" Alice asked

"Yes!" Marucho yelled. Does begging ever work? No, no it doesn't. I was back by the window trying to drown them out

"Shun why don't you meditate that should waste a bit of time and you always find it easier to ignore people when you meditate" Skyress suggested and it was quite a good idea so I complied and walked over to a corner sitting crossed legged closing my eyes and letting the world fade around me.

"You tell him" I heard muttering in front of me but didn't bother to open my eyes to see who it was. Instead I listened to them more, finding it kind of amusing that they were having a mini fight about something most people wouldn't think twice about

"I'm not telling him you tell him" I think that was Marucho

"Why should I tell him?" that one I knew for sure, it was Dan so the other was Marucho

"You've been his friend for longest" that was defiantly Runo

"Yea and I'm also the one he punched. He could easily do it again. It wouldn't be out of character for him to do it again" Dan argued

"Oh for pete's sake I'll tell him!" that was Julie "hey Shun we're here" I opened my eyes to see them all surrounding me. I nodded and stood

"Why are you all surround me?" I asked though I already knew the answer

"Oh no reason" Dan answered smiling

"Ok are we going then?" I asked pushing past

"Shun why were they all so nervous about telling you that we were there?" Skyress asked popping open on my shoulder

"How should I know they're strange always happy it's not normal"

"Maybe they were worried you would hit them after all Dan did say that it wouldn't be out of character for you" she retorted

"Ok that's stupid for 3 reasons. 1 the only reason I hit Dan was cos we had a fight, 2 I wouldn't do that again I was mad and 3 why would I hit someone who I have to spent time with?" I told her walking out of the plane and waiting for them to follow

"I don't know why they were worried I'm just offering some suggestions" I could hear them walk out of the plane and walked forwards towards the castle before they could catch up. However Marucho ran forwards and whispered up to me

"I thought you said you had almost forgiven him?" I looked down at him

"I have that doesn't mean I want to walk beside him or the others" I told him rather coldly

"Ouch hey did someone turned on the air conditioning" I glared at Preyas, now was not the time for stupid jokes especially ones that he obviously didn't spend much time on

"Be quiet Preyas and be serious for once in your life" I kept glaring but turned away a few seconds later

"Don't take it personally Preyas this is just, well it's important" I heard Marucho try to explain my actions. I walked silently into the castle with Marucho closely followed by the others.

We made our way to masquerades little room and we all scanned the place looking for any indication that may help us locate them and so far we had nothing. We had even employed our bakugan to look in the small places that we couldn't reach. We knew the chances of finding anything in those spots were slim to none but we were getting desperate

"I'm starting to think that this wasn't the best idea" Julie huffed while sifting through a pile of papers

"Don't give up there must be something here they couldn't have possibly taken everything that's important" Marucho tried to motivate Julie and only partly succeeded

"Has anyone found anything" Dan asked standing

"I found a ventus bakugan" Julie answered and we all crowded her

"Let me see" I told her holding my hand out she hesitated slightly but handed it over nonetheless "this is Komba's beestriker" I told them all

"You sure?" Runo checked

"Positive after all how many other ventus brawlers does masquerade have?" I answered her a little sarcastic at the end

"Ok I get your point but why leave it, did he forget it?" she smiled slightly at me but it wasn't a normal smile it was a slightly angry smile

"No he would never do that he cares for his bakugan even if he doesn't show it very much" I informed them

"And of cause _master Shun_ knows all about that" Dan teased and I did nothing about it which is a pretty good indication for everyone that we were nearly friends again

"Wow Shun I'm impressed" Runo stated with agreeing nods from the others

"What? I'm just not in the mood to fight besides he has just been freed from masquerade so I figure he deserves a break from drama" I stated in a monotone and I myself was impressed by the excuse I had managed to come up with so quickly. It wasn't that I never wanted to be friends with him again it was just that I didn't want the others to know more of a pride thing than anything else.

"Fair enough" she nodded accepting my reason "but seriously why leave it?" they all looked at me and I can only guess it was because I knew Komba better than any of them

"He would never abandon his bakugan so I presume he left it because he knew we would find it and left it as a sign for us to come see him" I offered my perspective on the matter and they all seemed to agree with my theory

"Yea but where would he be cos he does miss a lot of school so I doubt he would be there" Julie added again everyone agreed

"He usually goes back to Kenya when it's a special occasion and it's his grandmothers birthday tomorrow" I told them feeling slightly proud that I had remembered that from so long ago. Ok it was only a few weeks but a lot had happened since then so I was still proud of myself,

"You sure Shun this is important if we're going to get back at masquerade" Alice smiled while she asked me. I nodded confident that I was right

"Ok let's go then" Dan clapped his hands together once enthusiasm radiating from his voice

"Wait a minute Dan where are we supposed to find Komba in Kenya? It's a huge country and Komba's a little kid" Marucho piped up ever the logic person, though I inwardly laughed at his comment he was calling Komba short, I had to admit it was a good point

"We could get Joe to contact him after all he is the person who found you Dan" I answered again happy that I could answer that quickly.

"Yea we could call him now and while we're flying there Joe can be finding him. Maybe we could even arrange to meet him somewhere and find out what he knows and even if he doesn't know anything at least we would be able to reunite him with his bakugan" it was Alice's turn to contribute to our conversation and once she had we all agreed that Dan should be the one to call him and safe to say he was happy with our decision considering he practically jumped at the notion.


	17. friends?

I was watching Dan practice his conversation with Joe and I don't think I have ever seen someone prepare themselves so much for a talk that would only last a second.

"Hey Joe it's Dan here, we need to ask a favour will you help us please?" this was his latest try "Oh yea I'm untouchable" he was grinning obviously pleased with himself

"Which is why you were just kidnapped" I couldn't help myself. He turned and glared at me

"What? You don't like my message why don't you try?" he challenged

"Joe we need your help to find Komba. He left his bakugan behind and although he isn't working with us no one deserves to lose their partners" he glared again

"Was ok but I could do better" he admitted reluctantly and I nearly laughed at how annoyed he was. I walked away and let him practice in peace, well not exactly peace since the others were still in the room with him but I decided to walk around the castle a bit. So it was slightly more peaceful for him and a lot for me.

"Do you really think Komba left his bakugan as a sign Shun?" Skyress asked popping open on my shoulder, as much as I didn't want to admit it I wasn't too sure, it was just a guess.

"I don't know" I answered truthfully there was no point lying to her you would always get found out and sooner rather than later

"I see well I wouldn't put it past him. I know that he isn't the most patient person on earth but he does think things through when it's important and now is definitely important" I nodded in agreement but something was nagging at me and I had to ask.

"But Skyress we don't even know if he's on our side. I mean what if this is a trap I wouldn't put masquerade he did kidnap Dan after all" she nodded her tiny head and gave me her opinion.

"Masquerade may be sneaky but I doubt he would do that twice and if he did you have a team with you and you did defeat hydranoid before" I understood where she was coming from but I knew my reason for winning.

"I know that Skyress but the only reason I won was because dragon was fighting on pure anger and determination so he could get Dan back. So there wasn't a chance he would have lost even if masquerade fought us properly" she waddled closer.

"What do you mean properly?"

"Well it was kind of obvious that he wasn't fighting us at full power. He was distracted by something almost like he was torn with what to do" I started explaining I took a breath and continued "I noticed this and chose an attack that I knew he would be able to counter but he didn't, he didn't nullify my attack and that was why we won." She seemed to understand what I was getting at so I added something that was on my mind hoping she would be able to answer it for me "I can't stop wondering why though, what made him fight so poorly it was like I was battling an amateur and it frustrates me to no end that I don't understand it. What made him so torn? It was like he was having a dilemma an inner struggle" I may be going a bit over the top but it was what I had noticed and I knew it would drive me insane if I didn't get it out and let someone else know.

"Calm down you'll get your answers when you catch him and not only that you'll also be able to see who's behind his mask and once I find out then he better run cos I'm not holding back. How dare that man? Who does he think he is sending bakugan to the doom dimension and kidnapping? That's against the law but before the police get their hands on him I'm going to cause some damage"

"Calm down will you? You will have your turn on him just like everyone else will" I was walking down a long corridor with paintings hanging full length down the wall. They looked like they were of relatives but most of them looked like they were for show and some even felt like they were watching you. I found myself constantly turning round and I nearly threw one of my kunai knives at one of the portraits.

"You're awful jumpy" she commented.

"Can you blame me this place looks like it was brought straight out of a history book. I'm kind of surprised that this place has electric" I heard her laugh but I was being serious. I was honestly surprised. Most people who would come here would think it was lit with torches hung on the walls.

"Come on let's get back they must have finished the message by now" I nodded and turned round retracing my steps.

"Just pick one they're all good" I heard someone yell and I was almost certain it was Runo.

"Oh no maybe we should keep walking?" I groaned as we neared the door.

"I second that" Skyress piped up at my question but it was too late they had seen me.

"Hey Shun!" Marucho calls running over to me "Maybe you can help; Dan and Runo are fighting over which message to send. Can you choose cos Alice is 'staying out of it' and me and Julie are on different sides"

I nodded "sure" I told him reluctantly. He smiled and walked back into the room. I followed close behind regretting my decision more and more the closer to them I got

"Pick mine!"

"No yours is stupid mine is miles better. Telling him Chan asked will work saying pretty please will do nothing" Dan pressed his face closer to hers.

"I never said pretty please I said ask nicely" Runo yelled back pressing her face against his. "There's nothing wrong with being polite, try it sometime"

"What do you know about being polite?" This was getting old real quick so I decided to intervene

"Be quiet" I ordered placing my hands on each of their shoulders and pulling them apart. They shut up and looked at me

"Dan we're using Runo's" his face dropped.

"What? Why? You haven't even heard them yet?" he argued.

"I don't need to. We're using Runo's end off" I silenced him and told Runo to tell Dan what to say. While they were doing that I sat down on the desk next to Marucho who had climbed on as well

"You know you missed quite the spectacle when you left the room?" He told me and I nodded absentmindedly.

"Where did you go?" he asked. I snapped my head in his direction snapping out of the daze I was starting to fall into.

"Uh I went for a walk though I wish I hadn't." I answered. I saw he was wondering why so I decided to elaborate "this place is creepy the posters make you feel like you're being watched and followed everywhere you go I couldn't relax" he nodded

"Oh well that makes sense. This place is old and the paintings are really creepy. I don't walk around without someone else there or I find myself constantly checking over my shoulder" I was glad I wasn't the only one who didn't like this place

"Hey we're done" Runo called over. We looked over to see them waiting by the computer for us. Marucho hopped off the desk and I followed closely behind.

"So you guys, have agreed on what you're saying?" he asked and Runo nodded while Dan shook his head

"No more like she decided on what I'm going to say I had no input whatsoever" he complained crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child I sighed in annoyance "What? What have you got to say? Come on out with it Shun if you've got an opinion then share it" I stared Dan in the eye and decided that I might as well answer.

"Ok if you really want to know what I think. I think you should be used to that by now. You should know that Runo is stubborn and fights for what she wants. I think it's amazing considering on how long you've known her that you still don't know what annoys her. The rest of us have. She's hardly ever annoyed at me and Marucho. Julie and her fight on occasion but that's becoming less frequent. Alice and her never fight but you, you and her are fighting more often than you get along and quite honestly it annoys me to no end that you don't know when to stop" he didn't respond and scowled slightly.

Anyway let's start the recording" Marucho clapped his hands to get everyone's attention "so Dan you're going to be the one recording. Do you want us in here or what?" he asked.

"I'll record on my own. I don't need any smart remarks from some people in this group" his eyes flashed over in my direction as if to say something that was already obvious

"Ok then, come on guys let's leave him to it" Marucho spread his arms corralling us all and leading us like sheep out of the room "bye" he waved to us smugly. I gritted my teeth to stop from yelling at him.

We waited patiently outside the door, some a little more patient than others but all in all we didn't do too bad. We were let in after a few minutes and were again waiting but this time it only took about 30 seconds before the wait was over and Joe popped onto our screen.

"Hey guys why you guys there?"

"Hey Joe we're just here for a bit but do you know where Komba is?" Dan asked.

"Uh yea he's in Kenya" he answered earning a few groans.

"We know Joe. We just need to narrow the search down a bit" Runo explained realisation crossed his face

"Oh right I knew that" he laughed a little to cover his embarrassment and I watched as he typed on his computer while we were still on the screen "so yea I got him in the centre of Kenya in a park" he narrowed it down quite a lot but I knew he could do much better "sorry I can't help more but I've got some tests coming up in a few minutes and I'd like to have something to eat while I still can" the screen turned black and I could tell we all felt the same way. Disappointed that Joe couldn't help us all that much and at the prospect of all the hard work we would have to do to find Komba return beestriker and possibly face the fact that he knew nothing of masquerade's whereabouts and just forgot his beestriker we could even face the possible answer that this was just a trap set by masquerade.

"Well I guess we best set off we have a lot of work to do" even Alice sounded disheartened at the idea and when she sounded like that we all knew things were bad. Still at least she was trying to sound optimistic that couldn't be said for the rest of us. We grunted simultaneously and walked out of the room.

We were all sat in the plane waiting for Marucho and Kato to decide on where to fly to in Kenya. I looked round them all and saw they all looked bored and I couldn't blame them. Over the past few days a lot had happened and this was one of the only times when we had nothing to do or to keep us occupied while we went to our next destination. I looked out the window and saw it was night now, didn't think that much time had passed I thought an hour 2 at the most but it turned out to be 4.

"Guys we have agreed on where to go but I think you're all too tired to remember what I say so I'll tell you all tomorrow but for now I suggest we all go to bed and I'll be sure to tell you when we all wake up" I wasn't happy about this. Me and Dan shared a room and it was horrid. He snored like there was no tomorrow but with limited space we all had to make sacrifices. We all agreed to his proposal and stood walking in the direction of our rooms.

I waited outside while Dan got changed in our room. I already had so I could go to sleep as soon as I got back inside. The door opened a fraction and I pushed it the rest. I saw Dan already settling in on his bed. I climbed in mine after turning off the light

"Night" I yawned out of common courtesy but received no answer. Shrugging my shoulders I closed my eyes.

"Shun?" I opened my eyes again and saw Dan staring at me.

"What?" I asked not caring if it sounded a little harsher than I meant it too.

"Are we friends yet?" his voice was quiet and he seemed unsure of his question. I looked at him stunned. He thought we were friends again? "It's just that with earlier and us being all friendly with each other and the little jokes and all" I didn't know what to say. Yes we were pretty much friends again but could I admit that and with not admitting it did I have a good reason not to or was it just stupid pride?

"Um I'm not sure. I guess we're nearly friends but I don't know how to label it" I answered not confident with my answer.

"Oh uh well that makes sense and I ain't rushing you or anything cos I was horrid but I am sorry and I'm always happy to be your best friend again. Cos you're the best one I've ever had and I had to ruin it" he sounded sad but I stopped myself from saying anything "well night"

"Yea night" I sighed turning over and going to sleep.

**please review**


	18. park

**sorry I know it's been forever**

"Boys wake up we got word from Joe last night that he knows where Komba is. Sort off. But he's not telling us till we're all there so come on" Julie called through the door I heard a displeased groan from Dan

"Find out and come tell me will you Julie" pushing myself up I shook my head

"Come on they'll have breakfast ready you know what Marucho and Preyas are like with cooking" I tried coaxing him out of bed cos otherwise they wouldn't stop nagging me to wake him up

"Oh maybe they'll make takoyaki again I love that" yea that worked. Getting out of bed I dug through my bag to find some clean clothes

"Go outside Dan" I told him once I had

"Fine but don't whine when I eat all the food while you're getting changed" rolling my eyes I waited for the door to close before getting changed.

"Hey what happened to manners we have to wait for everyone to come you don't just help yourself" I smiled as I walked towards the couch. Runo was scolding Dan and I could imagine how it would go, him trying to grab something, her swatting his hand away her towering over him, him backing down wanting to avoid a fight so early in the day.

"Look he's here now can I have the food" I looked up and saw he and Runo stood next to each other in basically the same kind of way as I had imagined

"Fine I guess I have no reason to stop you any longer" she sighed turning to walk over to Alice and sit down beside her. I sat down in a spare space and waited for Marucho to tell us where Komba is

"Ok Dan mind sitting down for me" he slumped down on his seat almost crushing Preyas and Gorem in the process

"Oh uh sorry guys didn't see you there" he rubbed the back of his head clearly embarrassed "ok now that that's out of the way I've got a name of the place where Komba is. The name I got from Joe was Nairobi which is in Africa as I'm sure we're all well aware"

"Of course we are Marucho we are going to Kenya which is in Africa" Julie pointed out

"What oh yes I'm sorry I guess I kind of forgot" he laughed nervously and continued "anyway I have notified Kato and we're on our way as we speak" with that he sat down and started to eat what was left of the takoyaki

"So how about a game?" Alice asked and I couldn't help a groan "what?" she asked obviously not seeing what had provoked my action

"Don't start a game there tedious" I complained and surprisingly Dan and Runo agreed with me

"They really are Alice why don't we just relax or better yet have a battle to pass the time" I nearly laughed at him he appeared to have caught my smirk and asked "what now?"

"To have a battle you have to open the field and opening the field starts a time freeze so no matter how long you're in there a second won't have passed here if anything it'll just make it seem like longer" I pointed out

"Oh yea forgot about that" he smiled sheepishly "so what do we do?"

"I don't see what's so hard about keeping quiet is it impossible to say nothing for a few minutes?" I asked keeping my frustration in check

"Fine, fine we'll be quiet" I smiled slightly I closed my eyes in bliss of the new found quietness waiting patiently for us to arrive in Kenya.

Mercifully no one spoke for a good 10-15 minutes but the silence that had settled in was disturbed by Kato informing us that we were there and it was time to get off the plane

"Come on then we've got a lot of work to do" Alice smiled seeming much happier than last night

"Yea about that…" Dan started gaining our attention

"What? What did you do?" Runo asked him sounding like she expected it

"What? Nothing why do you always think I did something?" he asked not giving her time to answer he continued "honestly Runo I think you look for the worst in me. All I was gonna say was that I need to get changed" with that he turned heading back to the direction of our room leaving us all to wait.

He came out 5 minutes later ready to go and actually rushing us. With us all out of the plane we tried to decide who'd go where. With us split in groups of 2, me and Dan, Runo and Julie and Alice and Marucho, we set off me and Dan going to the national park which he was most likely to be at. He told me he always visited the park on visits at least once. It would be a long walk because it was 4 miles from the centre of Nairobi which was where we landed but that didn't bother me I was used to exercise thanks to my training. Just like Dan was cos when he practiced he went a little over board. While we were walking I tried to think of something to talk about but he beat me to it

"Do you remember when we were young we'd play dress up and you used to always dare me to wear my parents clothes?" I looked at him, what on earth made him think of that

"Uh yea why?" I stopped so I wouldn't trip and kept looking at him

"No reason just thinking of when we were stupid little kids who didn't care about anything except having a laugh" I smiled at the memory's that came to the surface. We were like that for a long time the only time that really changed was after my mum died

"I'd love to get back to that wouldn't you?" I was snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him trying to hide my shock

"What oh yea" I shook my head a little focusing back forwards and continuing on our way back to the park. Dan seemed to pick up on my unintentional hint and carried on walking by me but keeping quiet.

I don't know how long it took us to get to the park but what felt like an eternity till we arrived at the entrance of the park. Mainly because of the slightly awkward silence that enveloped us half way through the walk.

"Well finally" I looked over at Dan having finally had the silence broken

"Yea took a while" we were just talking for no reason simply to prevent the awkward silence from reappearing

"So where exactly do you think he'll be?" I shrugged

"Not sure I guess we just wander round till we find him" his jaw dropped

"What? But that'll take forever and he might not even be here"

"Stop complaining you'll just make it seem longer and if we don't find him within a couple hours we'll stop ok" he nodded not loving the prospect of walking round a park for hours when he might not even be there.

"I'm tired" I half glared at him we had been walking round for about an hour with no sign of Komba

"I get that, we'll sit down for a few minutes and carry on" he groaned and looked annoyed but didn't say anything just dropping down on the floor laying back sighing in relief

"Stop being dramatic" I rolled my eyes but dropping down next to him anyway

"Stop being dramatic" he imitated badly

"Grow up" I closed my eyes ignoring whatever he may have countered with.

**please review**


	19. Komba's here

**I'm so glad I finished this on time read review please**

No more than 5 minutes could have passed when a voice broke me out of my serenity

"Hey Shun" cracking one eye open I saw Komba leaning over me grinning

"Komba?" I asked rather stupidly pushing myself up

"Yea were you sleeping?" I shook my head

"No just resting for a minute" I heard a snore and looked to my side "but I think he is" Komba just shrugged

"Anyway I'm guessing you found beestriker?" he smirked and I knew I was right yesterday when I said he left it for us to find. Shaking my head again I answered

"Yea, we did we left it back at the plane"

"Ok so why don't we wake him up and go?" nodding I stood up tapping Dan on the side

"Go away mum 5 more minutes" he mumbled turning on his side sighing. I nudged him again a little harder this time and he stirred swatting my hand away "uh mum I already said 5 minutes" he rolled on his stomach his face landed in the grass. Some of it must have gone in his mouth cos he shot up spitting on the grass he had previously been using as a bed "what the-Shun what? I was resting" he was rubbing his mouth with his arm trying to remove the grass

"No you were sleeping" he shook his head adamant that he wasn't

"Dan you were snoring real loud" Komba added

"Be quiet Komba" he scowled not liking being, as he would see it, ganged up on. It seemed like the light had finally gone off "Komba? Finally do you know how long this has been going on for we've been walking forever" he grabbed Komba and hugged him

"Mind putting me down?" he asked looking shocked moving back from Dan

"What? Oh yea sorry" he placed Komba back on the ground scratching the back of his head smiling sheepishly

"Now that that's over let's get the others and go back to the plane" they both looked at me nodding

"Yea sure so I guess I'll call them lot" Dan offered, thanking him we all set off back to the entrance.

"Yes we have him. I'm not apologising to you for wasting your time I didn't force you to help and I didn't even know he was at this park. If anyone should apologise it should be Shun he was the one who had the best idea as to where he would be not me. Why are you having a go at me I didn't do anything?" I looked at Komba while we were walking we both smirked at how Dan was acting "No I ha to go I sing signal. I ed I lose ignal" we both looked at him and his pathetic attempt to trick Runo so he could hang up. I don't think it occurred to him that she could see him. It seemed he finally realised this and just disconnected the line "Why didn't you tell me about the picture?" he asked

"Don't have a go at me I was just enjoying the performance" Komba laughed making Dan's face redden from anger and embarrassment. He was about to retort when I cut him off

"You two can fight later right now we have company" they looked to where I was pointing and we saw Runo and Julie waving us over

"Hey girls" Dan yelled over as we all ran to them

"Hey so you did find Komba" Julie greeted

"Yea we did is she ok?" I asked referring to Runo who was glaring at Dan

"What her? Yea she's fine just a little annoyed. I mean that performance Dan did was awful she could see him" I smiled at her

"Yea he didn't really think it through"

"Does he think anything through?" We both looked at Komba who was smirking

"I think things through" Dan stated defensively crossing his arms. Rolling my eyes I ignored him

"Anyway should we go to the plane to wait for the others?" they all nodded in agreement and we set off. I kept glancing at Runo and Dan and saw them having a silent argument. I didn't even know they could do that. Every fight they'd had in the past had been very vocal. Shaking the thought from my mind I walked silent along with the others. The only sound coming from the group was Komba whispering to Harpus about something but I wasn't paying close enough attention to know what it was.

**sorry it's so short I hve horrible writers block**


	20. friends at last

Once we returned to the plane Julie and Komba engaged in a conversation that the rest of us couldn't decipher what it was about. Half way through Dan walked from the room and I could hear him talking to Alice using his bakupod and from what I could hear of his side of the conversation they were nearly here. I was thankful for that the sooner we could finish this the better and I could go back to my life away from them and even though I was looking forward to the peace and quiet as much as I hate to admit it I was dreading leaving them. Annoyingly enough they had grown on me

"Ok everyone Alice and Marucho will be here in 5 minutes" Dan came back in the room addressing us all and unknowingly for him he managed to snap me out of my irritating thoughts which I was grateful for. I hated that I was becoming real friends with them all again and it seemed like the same was happening to them since we hadn't had one fight with each other since this had started. Dan and Runo had fought but that was what their friendship was based on so it wasn't really worrying. What would have been worrying would have been if they had gotten along the entire time. Blocking out my annoying thoughts I instead focused on Julie and Komba's conversation still unable to figure out what it was about.

"Hey guys we're back heard you got Komba" Marucho ran into the plane not stopping and ran head first into Komba answering his own question "that hurt" he complained rubbing his head not realising he was sitting on someone

"Uh Marucho you mind getting off me?" still unaware that he was on Komba Marucho jumped yet again landing unbalanced on his feet. The only thing that prevented him from falling for a second time were a set of hands coming from the planes entrance shortly followed by the rest of Alice

"What happened?" she asked helping Komba up

"He ran into me" they both stated pointing at the other before scowling at what the other had said

"I didn't run into you I was going over to Kato to ask where the food was" Komba started "I paused for a second to ask Shun and Runo if they wanted anything when I was rammed by a short blond who obviously needs a new prescription for his glasses" Marucho's mouth hung open

"What are you talking about I was running cos I wanted to find out what was going on I even yelled to say I was coming" they would have had a full blown argument if Alice didn't step in

"Enough it's neither of your faults" they stared at her like she was stupid "Komba you didn't see Marucho and vice versa it was an accident that's all" just to make sure they couldn't have a fight she placed herself between the two miniature men "Komba I'm sure Kato wouldn't mind showing you where the food is and perhaps if you ask real nice he might make you something" he grinned before nodding

"Where?" she pointed in the direction Kato stayed in during most the flights and he took off running

"Thanks Alice" Runo smiled over at her "but don't we need to find out what he knows oh yea and where's beestriker?" she smiled slightly

"Yes I know but I'm just avoiding a fight. We don't need another after all you can still see the mark on Dan's eye" I couldn't help feeling slightly proud at that but before I could revel in it completely Dan started talking. His voice coming out higher than he had intended

"What?! You can't! Can you?" he turned to Marucho who hesitated before answering

"If we didn't know you then you wouldn't be able to tell but since we do then it is quite apparent that the colour isn't right" he scowled

"Ok no one ever keep this from me again!" he yelled making the others laugh

"That boy is too hot headed" I looked over to my shoulder to see Skyress had popped up there without me noticing

"Yea he is but that's just Dan I used to be just as bad" I whispered

"Really you couldn't have been" she sounded stunned and I didn't blame her I was so different to how I was not too long ago

"I was, I think Dan might have some pictures of us when we were little. His mum went crazy with the camera on our birthday, Christmas and any other holiday she decided to make up" I looked at her and saw she looked confused "it's not as insane as it sounds she just made up reasons for her friends and his dad to buy her things"

"Ah that's much more sane" I smirked at her. I was so caught up in my conversation with her that I jumped slightly when the couch I was on moved. Mentally berating myself I turned to see a very annoyed looking Dan scowling with crossed arms. Before I could ask what was wrong he started talking

"I hate them"

"Ok I'm gonna need more"

He huffed "is the bruise under my eye that prominent?" he asked still not giving me much to go on

"Not really, it is fading, a few more days and you'll have to strain to even notice it" he nodded closing his eyes

"Thank you that's all I need to know, they were going on about makeup and hats or wearing my goggles when I'm out" he pointed to Marucho and Runo I smirked fighting not to laugh

"They're just trying to help" I defended "yea but come on they could have been a little nicer about it" I couldn't hold it back I chuckled slightly at him

"Don't laugh" he seemed to realise what had just happened "you laughed. You haven't laughed since your mum died this is great Shun" I was thankful that he whispered this understanding that I didn't want the rest to know just yet

"I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before Shun" Skyress added, I thought about it and it was true I had never once laughed around her. I hadn't laughed around anyone since my mum's passing. "You should laugh more Shun it suits you makes you look less intimidating and much friendlier" rolling my eyes I had to ask

"I'm not intimidating am I?" it was really surprising to hear that

"In a way, you're an amazing fighter and when you see what you can do it's kinda daunting" he started and I understood that but still intimidating sounded too much. Apparently seeing my scepticism he added "I'll give you an example someone is given the choice to fight you or me who'd they chose?"

"You" I shrugged seeing it as obvious

"Exactly cos they know what you can do and knew they wouldn't have a chance cos you're intimidating" he empathised the word not feeling like fighting with him I agreed and we sat in silence for a few minutes before I had to say

"I'm sorry" he stared at me bemused

"What?"

"I'm sorry no matter the problems we had I shouldn't have hit you so I'm sorry" I didn't like apologising but I had realised I needed to swallow my pride. He had before when he apologised at school it was my turn now

"Thanks Shun that means a lot" he held out his hand as he had done before and this time I didn't reject him. I shook his hand and to my surprise he pulled me into a hug "we're friends now like real friends" he asked not letting go

"If you let go of me we can be" I replied pushing him gently hinting, I admit not very subtlety, that I wanted to break the hug. He let go and sighed

"Thank god it's been really stressing me out" I shook my head

"Of course we have a moment and you go and spoil it"

"What?" he asked shrugging

**so I made it longer than I originally was going to so please tell me if it was any good. **


	21. Skyress and Harpus

I looked away from him and back in front to see Runo and Alice staring at us shocked expressions on their faces. I tilted my head

"Are you two friends?" Alice asked and I was surprised to note a small bit of hope

"Pretty much yea" I answered she smiled

"Thank god I was starting to tire of being mad for no reason" I looked at her confused she seemed to notice this and answered "cos Dan was mad at you and you two didn't talk. When we were on the bakuroom we all had to pretend to be mad to make him feel better" Dan's face dropped yet again

"You mean you were lying when you would be like that. This is the worst day of my life" he sunk down in his seat I smirked

"Stop being a baby" I nudged his arm but he didn't move

"I'm serious it is I just found out everyone's been lying to me" rolling my eyes I explained

"They only did that to make you feel better they are your friends Dan that's what they do" I saw a flash of guilt cross his face

"That's not what I did" I had to strain to hear him so I wasn't entirely sure I had heard him right

"What?"

"I wasn't like that I didn't try to make you feel better with your mum and everything I was a jerk. I'm sorry" my smirk turned to a small smile. That was the sincere apology I had wanted from him when we had had our fight.

"Don't worry about it." I assured him placing my hand on his shoulder trying to comfort the usually hot headed boy

"Thanks Shun" he pulled me into another hug.

"Ok lot of hugs today" I noticed giving him a quick hug back before patting his back "Dan. What part of let me go and we'll be friends don't you understand? Cos I'll spell it out for you. No hugs right now too soon for that"

"Oh uh sorry" he pulled back smiling a little sheepish

"Ok I got my food" a muffled voice filled the momentarily silent room. Everyone turned to see Komba with a mouth full of food walk in balancing plates on his arms. There was a small space next to me and the wall that he squeezed into passing me a plate "you can have _some_ of it not all though I'm starving" I thanked him but didn't have any. Marucho then walked over looking quite annoyed. I noticed he was holding something

"Here's beestriker now would you mind telling us if you have anything that can be useful to us?" he passed beestriker before turning to sit by the girls

"Yea ok so anything specific you wanna know?"

"Just do you know where masquerade is?" he nodded and all their faces brightened "he's got a new hide out it's in Nairobi but not here it's somewhere where you can find it on your own though. He doesn't know the area as well as me which meant he had to place it in a fairly populated area but it's still pretty secluded you know enough for him to feel comfortable working." Everyone nodded at what he was telling us but I had a feeling he was being vague for a reason "you'll need my help of course" he added proving my suspicion correct

"Whatever help you can offer we are grateful for" Alice smiled at him

"Thanks Alice well I guess we'll get started then. First off he's not round here he's in Bahati that much I know" Marucho stood back up

"And you're positive?" Komba nodded

"Perfect I'll go tell Kato and would you please not get crumbs on my couch" he begged before turning to leave. When his back was turned Komba started mocking him. I tapped his arm shaking my head at him he stopped hanging his head annoyed that I had stopped his fun. When Marucho had left the room he asked in a whiny voice

"Why'd you do that? I was only messing" I shrugged before saying

"Maybe still you shouldn't do it I don't even know why you don't get on" he shrugged in response

"I don't know maybe I said something cos I don't really have a problem with him but the fact that he doesn't seem to like me makes me not like him" I nodded understanding what he was saying and at the same time not

"Why don't you just ask him?" again he shrugged

"Don't really know. Only reason I can think of is that it's his problem with me and he should confront me" I didn't know what to say so I simply nodded. I decided that since this wasn't my business I wouldn't press anymore on how he felt about it so instead I changed the subject

"I can't thank you enough for helping us Komba" he waved it off

"Don't thank me Shun I'm just doing my bit to help after all I was a pain before I hindered you and the others when you were helping Dan" I only half agreed with that he was a pain and a hindrance but if it wasn't for him we would have no idea where to find masquerade. We'd have never come to Kenya

"You've helped a lot Komba we'd be at a dead end if it weren't for you" before he could respond Marucho came back in

"Ok guys we're off" everyone took their seats as Kato started the plane "so is there any movie or do we play games?" I let out a soft groan as Alice replied

"There is no movie but we do have a game we play while we're waiting if you want to play?" not knowing how tedious the game was Komba agreed.

"Can I change my mind now?" he asked looking stressed like there was no tomorrow "Have any of them ever heard of Nintendo or something along those lines" he pulled his hand up to his face looking on the verge of collapse

"Sorry Komba but this is why I block them out till they're nothing but an irritating buzz" I couldn't help but smile he was having to go through what I did and it was funny seeing how badly he was handling it

"I don't know Marucho what is it?" it was Julie who was talking apparently this game was so tedious that even Alice had gotten fed up with it

"It was um I don't remember I think it was… no wait I changed it" a shout of frustration filled the room and everyone looked over at me but I wasn't the one making the noise it was Komba who was grabbing his hat and shouting out his annoyance

"Oh my god! How on earth can you stand this game? I'm going completely crazy over here" I smirked at him he was taking it very badly

"Relax Komba. It's not that big a deal we'll play something else" Julie tried to sooth him making it all the more funny for me and from the look on his face Dan also

"How about we all just shut up?" he asked straining a smile I could see the others look confused probably because they thought it was only me who hated the game now they realised I wasn't and it actually was a bad game.

"Ok we can do that too." No one spoke after that which both Komba and I were grateful for but it didn't seem to be helping his mood

"They're gonna make me go crazy" he whispered

"Don't worry Komba you'll survive" I assured

"How will he survive?" Harpus popped open on his shoulder followed by Skyress on mine

"How you doing Grandma?" she asked

"Good to see you too Harpus" I always loved to watch this. Harpus would try to annoy Skyress but she barely ever succeeded and when she did it was only for a minute or so before Skyress was back to herself

"So how you been doing? Collect your pension?" I looked at her expectantly

"Sorry Harpus but I've been a little busy helping people you should try it you might like it" I smiled as the two flew off next to each other still trying to outdo the other

"Will those two ever grow up" Komba spoke after a few seconds silence. I looked at him silently shocked he had calmed down really quick

"I don't think growing up is the problem Skyress is already grown"

"Yea guess you're right maybe teaching them how to communicate would be better" we talked about anything after that keeping our voices down as not to seem hypocritical to the others. Though as Dan and I were friends now I was paying more attention to what he was doing and I noticed he was listening in to our conversation. Once Komba finished talking I turned to him to ask

"Do you want to join in?" he nodded moving so he was looking at us better while we were talking

"What you talking about?" he asked looking happy to have someone other than Drago to talk to

"Nothing really" Komba answered looking around for Skyress and Harpus

"What do you want to talk about?" I refrained from sighing in annoyance

"I don't know Dan you chose something?" I suggested

"Can we talk about brawling?" he asked

"Sure why not." I didn't mind talking about that

"Ok if Alice had a bakugan what attribute do you think she'd have?" I didn't know I had never thought about that

"I'm not sure maybe haos?" I guessed "what about you Komba" I tapped his arm as I spoke making him jump; he appeared to have gone into his own little world.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked trying to slow his breathing

"Dan wants to know if Alice had a bakugan what attribute do you think it'd be?" he pondered the question for a second

"Haos possibly but she could also be darkus" seeing our confused stares he elaborated "Runo's a haos brawler but well let's face it she isn't all sweetness and light while Alice is insanely nice. So I figure if Runo can be a haos brawler which is such a contradictory thing to her then why can't Alice be darkus?" I saw the logic behind it and I was shocked that I hadn't thought of it. I always like to think I thought of every single possibility even if the question wasn't anything important

"Happy Dan we have your answers haos or darkus" he seemed happy with our decisions before turning to Alice

"Hey Alice what attribute do you think you'd be if you had a bakugan?"

**please read review**


	22. A little bickering

**Only a short chapter**

We all sat around talking for a little while consumed in our ever changing conversation. No one really interrupted apart from Skyress and Harpus but that was only when they were having one of their light hearted bickering competitions.

"Excuse me everybody but we have arrived" Kato's voice broke through the speaker

"Finally" Komba sighed sagging into the couch "it feels like it's been an eternity" abruptly sitting straight his tone changed from exhausted to one of a hyper 6 year old "anyway lets go I'm itching to get something done" jumping from the couch he ran to the door that lead to the outside of the plane not letting anyone open it though he wanted nothing more than to leave the stuffy plane

"Komba will you just move" Runo was trying to push past the jumping boy with little luck "uhh Shun please will you move him" she finally gave up turning to me with the request. I did just that taking Komba by the shoulder and moving him back unsurprising for me but apparently shocking for them "why did he move for you but not for me" she asked hands on her hips looking very mad

"Cos I'm his student and one must always listen to his master" Komba answered sounding proud

"Boys" she sighed opening the door and breathing in the fresh air "come on let's get out of here it's boring" we all followed agreeing with her despite Marucho's insistence that it wasn't that bad.

Once outside Julie and Komba went insane running around in the grass field we had landed in.

"Hey Julie stop!" Runo yelled as she dropped on the ground

"Why?" she asked purposefully trying to annoy her

"Because!" she yelled over not thinking her retort through and immediately regretting it

"Hah think of an actual answer Runo and I will but until then you can just go and be moody somewhere else" she waved her hand in a dismissive way infuriating Runo all the more.

"I'm not moody in fact I'm the most cheerful person I know" she screamed

"How many people do you know?" Julie was laughing at her success and I knew she was going to do even more to anger Runo as much as possible. Tuning out the rest of their argument I turned my attention to Komba who was behaving only marginally better than Julie, running around not caring that he was making Marucho and Alice jump out of the way. His luck at avoiding them ran out and he crashing into Alice knocking her down landing with a thud he shot up glaring at her

"Why don't you watch where you're going lady I'm running here!" he yelled at her. His shouting stopped Julie and Runo's fight which I admit I was grateful for. If it wasn't for that we'd have been here for at least an extra hour while they fought but along with my relief I felt worried

"What's the big idea Komba you just ran into her!" Runo yelled storming over. I glanced at Julie who looked somewhat disappointed that she wasn't the one annoying her anymore but moments later she too stood to help Runo with her fight with Komba. The last time the two had teamed up in a fight was when they wanted to have a go at me and it didn't work out very well ending up with them having a fight of their own, but this time was different I was sure of that.

I didn't listen to their conversation I wasn't really concerned with what they were yelling. Instead I went over to Dan who looked to be enjoying the display clearly happy he wasn't the focus of Runo's rage

"You look happy" I commented as I stepped beside him

"You kidding this is great I'm not in trouble" I smirked at him

"Yea must be strange you're not the one in danger of being hit" he laughed

"Yea think we should stop them or wait for Runo and Julie to start their fight?" he asked laughing when Runo tried to get backing from Julie who had gotten distracted talking to Gorem changing their target in the fight to each other leaving Komba to be an observer like the rest of us. He was clearly bemused but was glad he got off quite easily. Making his way over to us he was muttering to himself as he readjusted his hat.

"What is wrong with them?" he asked dusting his clothes down before dropping at our feet

"They're insane" Dan answered quite casually arms folded as he laughed at the snide remarks they were making with each comment their voices rising to a full on scream. Their yelling was starting to give me a headache so I blocked them out watching them point at the other obviously yelling though to me they were nothing but small muffled sounds.

"These two are giving me a migraine" though their voices were gone to me Skyress' was loud and clear

"Want to go for a walk?" I whispered in a voice only she could hear

"Gladly" looking around to make sure no one was watching I turned retreating into the woods that surrounded the field.

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	23. the end

**This is the last chapter**

I happily wandered through the trees not caring where I was going but having enough sense to leave little landmarks so I wouldn't get lost.

"Better?" I asked as I marked another tree with a kunai

"Much" it seemed we were only capable of giving one word questions and answers

"Hey Shun!" a voice from behind me made me stop, turning around to see Dan running over waving as if to get my attention though he was the only one that was there.

"What is it Dan?" I asked trying not to sound as annoyed as I was

"Wotcha doin?" he asked as he stopped in front of me

"That's why you followed me? To ask what I was doing?" he nodded "I'm going for a walk Julie and Runo were starting to give us a headache" I told him gesturing to Skyress who was sunbathing on my shoulder

"Oh ok can I come?" not seeing any reason as to why he couldn't I agreed

"Sure but only if you're quiet"

"I promise"

We walked side by side having a quiet conversation; a cold draft blew past us making us both shiver

"Hello Dan, Shun it's been a while" looking around for the source of the voice my eyes fell on a blond in a tree

"Masquerade" I glared at the masked boy

"What do you want poser?" Dan asked just as mad as I was

"Oh nothing really just Drago" he jumped from the tree landing a few feet away from us "you want a battle you got it!" he yelled stepping forwards pulling out his field card

"Field open!" I stepped forwards intending to watch the fight but the time freeze caught me stopping me mid step.

"Ah well next time then Dan" as I finished my step Masquerade and Dan were further from me panting hard, though Masquerade managed to speak with his usual arrogance despite it being obvious he lost

"Wait Masquerade don't go, join us" even he couldn't hide his shock at that

"I don't think that would be very wise Dan it wouldn't work very well if I did agree to join which I'm not" before Dan could say anything else and before I had the chance to yell at him for suggesting he join Masquerade started laughing a dark evil laugh

"What's so funny" Dan asked his voice threatening

"Oh nothing really just a thought came to mind I'm sure master Naga won't mind too much" he didn't elaborate what he meant but it soon became clear taking out his transporter card he reached up pulling his mask from his face. As the mask came from his face his hair fell the blond turning into a shining orange. We managed to see his face for a split second before he activated his transporter card vanishing into thin air. Looking at Dan I knew I had the same look on my face a look of complete and utter shock

"Alice?!" we both yelled in unison at the other.

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